By: Garrett Masters
What we see isn’t all that is there. The Internet is an ocean of endless information, and most people are unaware of the illegal, billion dollar enterprise that exists below the surface. The surface Web, which everyone routinely uses, contains a mere 0.03 percent of the information that is available on the World Wide Web. The other 99.97 percent is buried in the Deep Web. The Deep Web contains content that isn’t accessible from a simple Google search. Most of the information here consists of data that is not indexed, such as unlisted blog posts, obscure news stories, or archaic picture galleries. While this seems useless, the Deep Web contains information that could be useful to us. There is also, however, a murky side to the Deep Web known as the Dark Web.
Unlike information of the Deep Web, the information on the Dark Web is hidden deliberately. This data is private and can have powerful consequences if revealed. The people who use the Dark Web are mainly government agents, users who do not want to be monitored, and criminals. Criminals make up the largest demographic of Dark Web users. They are able to remain anonymous and sell anything that is profitable to them. That includes illicit drugs, weapons, copyrighted money, stolen credit cards, fake passports, and hit men for hire. This part of the Internet can only be accessed by using a browser created by the United States Naval Research Laboratory, known as The Onion Router, or Tor. Tor was originally created for political dissidents and whistleblowers to communicate effectively and anonymously. Endorsed by famed whistleblower Edward Snowden , Tor has now turned into a browser that anyone can access and download from their home computer. Tor is incredibly complex and virtually untraceable, which allows a billion dollar trade of illegal items to continue through the exchange of bitcoins without much legal ramification. Despite efforts from law enforcement, the Dark Web is perpetuating an illegal enterprise that is growing every day.
In 2013, the Federal Bureau of Investigation launched its most vicious attack on a Dark Web drug syndicate. The FBI successfully shut down Silk Road, a drug superstore, and arrested the site’s founder, Ross Ulbricht. Ulbricht was caught just as any street drug dealer would have been caught, and the site was shut down through the infiltration of Ulbricht and his Silk Road headquarters. Silk Road, which had a customer-friendly user interface that displayed pounds of marijuana and kilograms of cocaine as subtly as Amazon displays books, was the Dark Web’s largest market. It earned $1.2 billion in sales with almost a million customers. Some law enforcers predicted that Silk Road’s demise would mark the fall of Dark Web drug markets. Instead, dozens of black-market Amazons have since filled Silk Road’s void. In addition, these marketplaces are expanding rapidly and growing more sophisticated.
Although drug trading is currently illegal in the United States, these Dark Web drug marketplaces offer several advantages. One advantage of buying drugs online is that it is safer than buying them on the street. Drug-related robberies cannot occur through anonymous selling, and drug dealers do not have to worry about violence or intimidation. Drug cartels would also be attacked head on if Dark Web drug trading became the status quo. People that are buying large quantities from the cartels would seek anonymity so they would not have to deal with ruthless drug gangs. The process of buying and selling drugs becomes safer with the complete anonymity of the user interface, which would oust drug cartels and violent drug gangs. The problem is not buying and selling drugs. The problem is the violence that comes along with it, and this new way to buy and sell reduces the opportunity for it.
Quality is another advantage that Dark Web trading offers. These black-market websites use an Amazon-like customer-review system. High customer reviews provide assurance to the buyer that they are receiving a quality product. Conversely, street drugs can be laced with malignant impurities, which can be fatal. The forums on these websites also help to distinguish the trusted sellers. Reputation is key in the drug trade, since clients are unable to fall back on the legal system for reparations.
The Dark Web offers advantages for drug dealers and buyers, but it also provides protection for people living in oppressive countries and whistleblowers in politically stable countries. The Dark Web allows these people to communicate others and offers a degree of safety for those who seek to undermine political leadership. If these people did not have anonymity then they could face severe punishment. Additionally, regular citizens can also access the Dark Web to remain anonymous in a world full of constant surveillance. The main goal of Tor is to provide a network of hidden tunnels for people to contact each other with in order to improve privacy and security on the Internet. Using Tor protects users from a common form of internet surveillance called traffic analysis. Traffic analysis is used to infer who is talking to whom over the Internet. Knowing the source and destination of one’s Internet traffic allows other to track your behaviors. Tor creates private network pathways to counter traffic analysis, which allows people to keep their privacy and safety.
Although there is an even darker side to the Dark Web that accommodates credit card thieves, counterfeiters, and hit men, the Dark Web offers many advantages. It allows protection for whistleblowers, safety for drug dealers and buyers, and privacy for regular citizens. Law enforcement should focus more on eradicating the vile and murderous side of the Dark Web, instead of the side providing a safer way to do things already rampant around the world. This underground trade undermines the violent one that plagues our streets today. Although the world would arguably be safer without drug trading of any kind, the use of the Dark Web provides a safer way to do things that are already rampant throughout the world.
