One day you wake up and find that your favorite website has illegally breached the safety parameters. So now, your passwords and other critical information are out online. Sounds scary, right?
However, this is not the only case. Many such incidents happen now and then, doubting the internet’s ability to handle critical data. Again, though, is this really because of the internet? Or does it also have any other reasons? We will further know the Dark Web, followed by its consequences and effects on the overall stability of the internet space.
Therefore, whether you are a technical geek or just a curious egg, this blog will help you with in-depth information about the Dark Web.
What is the Dark Web?
The dark web is an unnoticeable part of the worldwide web encrypted with pages not indexed on the search engines. These dark web pages require specific configuration or authorization to access. Moreover, these web pages do not appear when you look for them in a search engine, so it’s compulsory to know the exact URL of the website you want to visit. However, the dark web looks like a frequented domain by criminal elements. But that’s not the complete truth because people, who need privacy for entirely legal purposes like proprietary business or communication by political activists, utilize this for wholly lawful purposes.
History of the Dark Web: How It Started?
Today, the dark web is a trending topic globally. First, though, it started interestingly. Now, let’s take a brief overview of the history or timeline of the dark web. So, keep hanging on with us.
The 1960s: The Beginning
The dark web and the internet have similar ages. However, the idea of creating an anonymous online communication network in the 1960s was the beginning of the internet, followed by the dark web. The ARPANET arose from a desire to convey information over huge distances without having phone connections between each computer on a network.
The 1970s: First Illegal Transaction
ARPANET may not be a Dark Web as we understand it today from the start; it would not take long before people began to use this technology for items they liked to keep a secret. In the 1970s, the first-ever illegal transaction took place, where students at Stanford sold weed to students at MIT using ARPANET. During that time, people did not have personal computers.
The 1980s: The Internet was still a Luxury
In the 1980s, internet access for citizens was not less than a dream. Finally, however, the internet came to the world around 1983, quickly gaining popularity. With its increased popularity, the question “where should all the data be stored” became prominent. Finally, though, the answer was in the form of Data Havens. By the mid-80s, personal computers and modems became, if not affordable, available for anyone to buy. Data havens worked similarly to tax havens in those mountains of data that further be exported to countries with tax laws to keep it out of the hands of governments at home. Ultimately, the rise of data havens revealed extending concern over online privacy, similar to the trouble that dark web users later on shared.
The 1990s: Growing Technologies
The 1990s was, without a doubt, the time when WWW (World Wide Web) went mainstream. Thanks to web technologies like HTTP and FTP including graphical computers competent in running a web browser. These technologies provoked a sudden mainstream appeal to the whole internet thing. In addition, the 1990s is also known as the decade of the internet boom and the Dot-Com Bubble. In August of 1991, the internet was available publicly. It was quite a revolutionary concept at the time that numerous early users began herding online to try it out for themselves.
It was not long until illegally ripped music made its way online to forums, followed by Napster – a music-sharing site. The growth of Napster at the turn of the millennium emphasized the enhancing demand for online selling products, as it was easy and convenient.
The 2000s: Freenet Released
In 2000, Freenet software was launched, letting you share files, browse, and publish “free sites” anonymously. Although Freenet did not gain as much popularity as Tor did, it helped stimulate demand for anonymous Internet access. It was an actual implementation of the Dark Web and supplied plenty of illegal information like illegal pornographic material and pirated content. Of course, exchanging unidentified money is still incredibly hard since it will still require cash. Therefore, Freenet does not lead extensively to any black market activity.
2009: The Release of Bitcoin
Before cryptocurrency came, illegal transactions on the dark web were hard to complete. As customers could potentially be far from thousands of miles away, neither one desired to take a risk using international payment mediums like credit cards or PayPal for transactions because they leave paper trails. An anonymous man Satoshi Nakamoto mined the first Bitcoin, effectively starting a revolution in illegal transactions online. Bitcoin solved the problem that previous versions of cryptocurrency could not – it had an accounting ledger despite preventing users from copying money.
The 2010s: Crossing TOR and Cryptocurrency
Even though the dark web saw a peak in prohibited trades in the 2010s, it fitted a compassionate purpose in late 2010 during the Arab spring. The 2010s represented the era where crypto and TOR met to develop the first proper black markets. But, unfortunately, the frontiersperson was the Silk Road, which is now long perished. Instead of taking all the significant figures out behind the Silk Road, it has ostensibly made lesser changes to restrict the trade of drugs and other illegal goods and services over the Dark Web.
The 2020s: Falling of the Dark Web
The Dark Web of today is consistently in downfall. However, there is still a wide range of hidden services and information exchange going out of the mainstream web. It does not matter that the Dark Web is relatively shorter than the surface web. Its influence is disproportionately large. Small groups of hackers collaborating on the Dark Web can fetch a multi-billion Dollar internet company to its knees. So hackers end up affecting billions of users. Darknet black markets are also flourishing and putting both traditional and new artificial drugs into the hands of anyone who desires them. Digital currencies have been a significant aspect of this development of the Dark Web.
How to Access the Dark Web?
It is tough to access all these websites using browsers because they do not perform on most operating systems like Windows, Mac OS, or Linux. However, you can access these dark web pages using a few dedicated browsers like Tor Browser. Tor is an open-source project developed under The Tor Project. It enhances the surfing experience and supports anonymity, like instant messaging programs and email clients, video streaming programs and web servers, and more while accessing the dark web.
What are the Dangers of the Dark Web?
When you use the dark web, it becomes essential to have a VPN or proxy service for added security. They program your data and hide your IP address from others on the internet, so they cannot track you. The Dark Web is a hub of websites involved in illegal activities like drug trafficking, human and weapon trafficking, etc. Therefore, make sure you know these things before involving anything on the dark web.
Are the Dark Web and Deep Web Have Any Similarities?
The deep web guides to the pages on the internet that are not indexed in search engines, indicating that you cannot locate them by conducting a simple Google search. Banking information, confidential data, data on clouds, etc., need special authorization to access. On the other hand, the dark web promotes illegal activities, which are not available on search engines.
Conclusion
Lastly, for the last decade, we have seen the downfall of the dark web. Earlier, the situation was controllable, which became uncontrollable after the release of blockchain technology. However, it can still be dangerous for someone to enter it without proper precautions. We have tried our best to put every little detail in this blog to make it both; informational and educational for our users.
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