Piffey

A few weeks ago The Guardian published an article by Andy Beckett entitled The dark side of the internet that explored the so-called deep web where “criminals” and “child pornography” abound. The article was highly critical and I was hesitant to comment at first because I found the information to match up with services I’ve used and private sections of the Internet I’ve been able to view — essentially I didn’t want to just turn around and whip the author for his conclusions. Just as a quick definition: a darknet is any section of IP traffic that is blocked from general public view, not found on search engines, etc. The web’s various darknets are said to be around 500 times larger than the actual, Google-ified Internet.

Darknets are often defined by the media as havens for pirated media, child pornography, and criminal activity. While all of these exist and certainly, as is the case with pirated media, flourish on darknets, there is also a large chunk of people using darknets for other purposes. One clear example is the expanded use of Tor on Chinese and North Korean networks. These governments decided a long time ago to censor what their people see over the Internet. Tor, an anonymizing network, gives users freedom of speech without fear of being traced. It allows the dissemination of ideas to continue in places where they are otherwise oppressed. The program has spread rapidly as users pass it on, by hand, to trusted members of their social network.

If you look at Tor’s website you will see that Tor is not only used by activists but by military field agents, journalists working in high-risk areas where they are monitored by the government’s there, law enforcement for online surveillance, and dozens of human rights groups. The darknet that Tor provides has helped to reveal information regarding overseas sweatshops, corporate corruption, human trafficking, and anything else that might require an anonymous face because of danger.

While there may be an abundance of ‘bad’ material in these darknets it is important to remember that communication networks have always been exploited by criminals and always will be — just look at the amount of drugs shipped through our own mail system or old telegraph messages from mafia members. Beckett forgot, or more likely neglected to research, all of the positive aspects of  the web’s dark corners and how their existence is essential before writing such a critical article. In a world where we have government regimes monitoring and using peoples’ IP traffic against them, even using this data to threaten their lives, it is important and necessary that such services exist and are publicized.

Below is a list of publicly available darknets running on anonymous networks. You will have to find hidden VPNs, stolen address space, and Internet loopholes on your own.

Freenet ||| Tor ||| I2P