Regular internet users know more or less what the internet has to offer but apparently, people actually know nothing. I have heard of the "deep Web" or "dark Web" before, about three or four years ago but I did not have any interest in wanting to know what it is or how it operates. That has changed with Wikileaks becoming more prominent and, of course, Edward Snowden. Now I want to know absolutely everything. The deep Web came to my attention once again, explaining how is trivial, but I wanted to know more so I did a bit of research.
According to an article written by Jose Pagliery for CNN (@Jose_Pagliery), we interact with about 1% of the internet everyday. That's your common sites that you open up every morning, Facebook, Twitter, Google, Buzzfeed, etc, the well-known ones which search engines would have no trouble finding. The most bad ass thing I've done until now on the internet is understand how Reddit works and browse through Wikileaks. Pretty lame, I know. The way search engines work are really interesting but you can research that for yourself when you're done reading this.
Have you noticed that search engine results are more or less the same? Ok, maybe not Bing but, you get the idea. I noticed this in high school whenever I did research for a project. I would use Google and Yahoo! and, most of the time, the results I got were the same. This is because all of the results that pop up have links between sites which are a breeze for search engines to recognize and find in a matter of seconds. Search engines index data and then trawl through this information to help you find what you are looking for. The results which emerge from searches are referred to as static pages. The pages which are not indexed is what's interesting here.
The pages which search engines are not capable of finding because they cannot access deeper content make up the other 99% of the internet known as the deep web. These pages are known as dynamic pages. Dynamic pages include private databases. Think along the lines of intranets (universities) or company sites (academic journals). These sites require special access in order for you to view information and search engines will not be able to collect data from these sites. Private pages are the tip of a vast, unknown, exciting and dangerous Web.
The largely unexplored deep Web is often referred to as Tor. Let's just say that Craigslist has nothing on Tor. Tor is the darkest part of the internet. It's a network comprised of a collection of sites that end in .onion (I know right, why bring a vegetable into this mess?). Special software is needed to access the stuff on Tor, which also ensures that you remain completely anonymous while you browse, or do other stuff which is probably illegal. If the software does not ensure your anonymity, do not fear for Tor will be there to shield off the authorities. It's like an extra layer of protection (.onion?). Tor runs on a system which bounces signals off various computers all over the world, which means that you'll be practically impossible to find when you access it. You're invisible but not invincible, please remember that.
As for the content which is available on Tor, you'll be able to find anything from hackers to do your dirty work, lots of stuff to illegally download, various message boards, stolen credit card numbers, illegal pornography, drugs (all sorts of drugs and almost every type), illegal organs and even assassins. Tor is like Craigslist on steroids, only you might go to jail if you aren't careful enough. There are loads of stuff which is legally available and legal transactions take place all the time but, most of the stuff on Tor is illegal, which is why anonymity is stressed.
I accessed Tor for research purposes. I did my research before doing this, obviously. Accessing Tor is not illegal. To say that accessing Tor is illegal would be to say that accessing Google is illegal. It is a part of the internet, no doubt a huge one, and all you're saying to the world by accessing it is that you're aware of it. What you do on Tor determines whether you've been naughty or not. I downloaded the Tor browser bundle, protected my IP address and I was good to go. I'm not going to explain the entire process of how I accessed Tor, it's really quite simple and anyone can do it. Once I had accessed the Tor network, I began exploring .onion sites. Let's just say that there are parts of the internet which are better left hidden.
If you decide that you would like to explore the Tor network, I must stress that you should not disclose your identity or location to anyone. Be smart. There are loads of creeps out there, the ones who typed a nasty reply to a comment that you left on a post do not begin to even scrape the surface. There's loads of information about the deep Web available on Reddit and Google, I've just included the basics. Surf responsibly guys.
