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Depending on what you find, you might need a strong stomach, a brave demeanor and a willingness to ignore blatant violations of the law. The best way to think of the shape of the internet is an iceberg — what you see on the surface is only a small fraction of the actual web. Below the surface of the water lies the deep web, with the Dark Web occupying a chunk of this gargantuan mass of data.
Policing involves targeting specific activities of the private web deemed illegal or subject to internet censorship. The name Dark Web has ominous undertones and sounds like something we should seek to avoid. Granted, criminals do gravitate towards darknet sites in order to perform unlawful activities.
Watch what you download
They may also be law enforcement masquerading as criminals in an attempt to catch people who are up to no good. The short answer is no, it’s not illegal to browse the dark web. In fact, there are instances where individuals can use it for good.
This is the segment of the Internet that is not indexed by any search engine. This means that you cannot access that web page through a search engine. The Deep Web contains a huge number of web pages, databases, special forums, and many other resources. You will have to know the exact address or have a direct link but you do not need any special settings or software to get access to these websites.
The internet you use to search for more information is referred to as the surface web or open web. This is the readily visible part of the internet anyone can access with an internet connection and a normal web browser like Safari, Mozilla Firefox, or Google Chrome. Other terms for the surface web include the visible web, lightnet, or indexed web. By using the Tor browser, internet users can access the Dark Web to communicate and share data in confidence, without the risk of being traced. Most users on the Dark Web are logged into a Virtual Private Network to further conceal themselves. As long as there’s a demand for the ability to privately browse the internet and, more importantly, host websites anonymously, the deep web will exist.
Private Internet Access — MACE Feature to Protect You From Ads and Malware on the Dark Web
When you connect to the internet using Tor, your data goes through multiple phases of encryption before it’s directed through a random series of servers called ‘nodes’. Perhaps you’ve heard the infamous stories about Silk Road, the online marketplace used to sell illegal drugs with bitcoin behind the veil of the Tor browser. Launched in 2011, it is known to be one of the first online platforms of the dark web.
- Tor also permits surfing the deep web areas you have access to and the regular surface web anonymously as long as you don’t log in to personal accounts.
- Your email inbox, online banking and Google Drive folders are undiscoverable via a web browser.
- And just as there are reasons to remain anonymous in real life, there may be reasons you wish to remain anonymous on the internet.
- § Dark Web Monitoring in Norton 360 plans defaults to monitor your email address only.
- These information is never exposed to the public for good reasons.
There are a few reasons why the dark web isn’t stopped or shut down. First, it’s difficult to track and monitor activity on the dark web since much of it is encrypted. Yes, it’s possible that your phone number is on the dark web. The best way to find out is to check the “Have I Been Pwned” website. This website allows you to type in your email address or phone number and see if it’s been compromised in any data breaches.
Comparison of Deep Web, Darknet and Dark Web and how they differ from the Clearnet
For example, they may hold money in escrow but then shut down the e-commerce website and take off with the money. Due to the anonymous nature of the dark web, it’s very difficult for law enforcement to find such perpetrators. That said, while it’s not illegal to browse the dark web, it’s also not completely void of criminal activity. Putting yourself in close proximity with illegal activities is rarely a good idea and could heighten your risk of being targeted by a criminal yourself. The deep web refers to any page on the internet that isn’t indexed by search engines as described above. The deep web is the first level beneath the “surface” of the visible web — and it’s significantly larger than the surface web, accounting for anestimated 96% to 99%of the entire internet.
So how do you access the Dark Web or Darknet, as it’s sometimes called? Start with The Onion Router software, which permits access to the anonymous network of the Darknet. After you open it, you can use the familiar-looking Web browser to access “hidden services,” which have Web addresses ending in .onion instead of the more familiar .com or .org. It’s also a good idea to invest in a virtual private network or other proxy server connection to ensure that your connection with this Web can’t be monitored by anyone else.
NordVPN has been shown to be ideal for protecting your privacy before visiting the deep web in my experience. Download and install the TOR Browser for iOS from the App Store. The dark web, however, is a very concealed portion of the deep web that few will ever interact with or even see. In other words, the deep web covers everything under the surface that’s still accessible with the right software, including the dark web. His expertise lies in the field of technology from both consumer as well as enterprise points of view.
Will visiting the dark web attract attention?
Whistleblowers, for instance, can find the anonymity available through the dark web valuable when working with the FBI or another law enforcement organization. What makes the dark web distinct from the broader deep web is the fact that dark web content can only be accessed via a special browser. Basically, the sites you use daily — from your favorite news site to a local restaurant — are part of the surface web. What makes these websites part of the surface web is that they can be located via search queries and have recognizable endings like .com, .edu, .gov, or .org. You are able to find websites on the surface web because they are marked as “indexable,” meaning search engines can index and rank them.
