Under the radar.
Text: Isabel Wagner*
The dark web has an image problem, but the main thing it offers is secure communication – something we should all be advocating. A case for the defense.
The Tor browser is the gateway to the dark web. Contrary to what many people may think, you can also use it to access any website you like. The Tor network anonymizes the link between the user and the websites they visit. Simply put, this is a process of multiple intermediary encryption steps. Website operators can no longer tell who is accessing their site, and nobody can tap into data about which websites a user is visiting. If you use other browsers to navigate the internet, you must always assume that you’re leaving behind a data trail.
Prominent negative examples.
Then there are “hidden services”, concealed websites and offerings that can only be accessed via the Tor network. This is the actual dark web. According to Tor’s operators, visits to these hidden sites only make up around 1.5 percent of all data traffic on the Tor network. There are no reliable estimates as to how many of these services are illegal in nature.
Most examples in the public consciousness are negative, such as Silk Road, the dark web drug market uncovered in 2013 by US authorities. The public also see the dark web as a repository of child pornography. There is no disputing that anonymous communication enables child abuse and human trafficking, among other activities.
However, a British policy briefing from 2015 stated that while British authorities had found more than 1,600 websites featuring child pornography material on the normal internet, they found just 36 on the dark web; so the problem is much greater on the normal internet. The briefing also declared that the Tor network tends not to attract people who want to exchange these types of materials because connections are significantly slower than on the public internet. Investigators are therefore usually able to uncover pedophile networks by examining data traffic on the normal internet.
Furthermore, criminal activities on the dark web also leave traces in the real world, such as financial transactions. Silk Road’s founder was arrested – and his drug platform brought to an end – because of mistakes he had made outside of the Tor network.
Safety for whistleblowers.
The public rarely think about the other side of the coin: Edward Snowden’s revelations about the surveillance programs run by secret services would never have been released in this form without the Tor network. After the high-profile case broke in 2013, many major media outlets set up communication channels for whistleblowers using the Tor network and hidden services.
Statistics about the home countries of Tor users underline another important aspect of the dark web: People in countries with strict censorship – such as China, Russia and Iran – depend on the Tor network to acquire information. They also need hidden services to publish information anonymously without endangering themselves or their families.
Even in democratic countries, however, the general public’s privacy is slowly and insidiously being eroded. Most people have no idea just how much information is being recorded, and in how much detail, about our online behavior, our movements, our relationships and our interests. You’re probably thinking that you have nothing to hide. So what harm could it do? Unfortunately, nobody can predict what conclusions can be drawn about a person by combining all of the available data. Above all else, the dark web is an important means of protecting ourselves against the loss of privacy. Without privacy, our autonomy and self-determination are in jeopardy.
*Transcribed by Angelika Jacobs
More articles in this issue of UNI NOVA (November 2024).