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Beyond the deep web which consists of content that cannot be found or directly accessed via
surface web search engines such as Google and Yahoo is the darknet. The darknet is a network,
built on top of the internet that is purposefully hidden, meaning it has been designed specifically for
anonymity. Unlike the deep web, the darknet is only accessible with special tools and software –
browsers and other protocol beyond direct links or credentials. You cannot access the darknet by
simply typing a dark web address into your web browser.
All darknets require specific software installed or network configurations made to access them, such
as Tor, which can be accessed via a customised browser from Vidalia (aka the Tor browser bundle),
or alternatively via a proxy configured to perform the same function.
Similarly, below are several examples of darknets:Tor, or The Onion Router, is a group of
volunteer-operated servers that allows people to improve their privacy and security on the
Internet. Users connect through a series of virtual tunnels rather than making a direct
connection.
I2P, or the Invisible Internet Project, is an anonymous overlay network - a network within a
network - intended to protect communication from surveillance and monitoring.
Freenet is free software which allows users to anonymously share files, browse and publish
"freesites" (web sites accessible only through Freenet) and chat on forums. Communications
by Freenet nodes are encrypted and are routed through other nodes to make it extremely
difficult to determine who is requesting the information and what its content is.
DN42 is an example of a darknet, a routing protocol, that is not necessarily meant to be secret -
its aim is to explore internet routing technologies.
We'll use Tor, perhaps the most well-known and most-used, to better explain the darknet and dark
web. Tor, short for The Onion Router (the project's original name), routes traffic to dark web sites
through layers of encryption to allow for anonymity. The term dark web refers to websites on a
darknet. In Tor's case, these dark web addresses all end in .onion.
Onion routing is implemented by encryption, nested like the layers of an onion. Tor encrypts the
data, including the destination, multiple times and sends it through a circuit of randomly selected
Tor relays. Each relay decrypts a layer of encryption to reveal only the next relay in order to pass
the remaining encrypted data on. The final Tor relay decrypts the innermost layer of encryption and
sends the original data to its destination without revealing, or even knowing, the source address.
The other darknets mentioned above employ similar methods of data transmission, all with the end
goal of keeping users, usage, and information hidden.
While most of what you've likely heard or read about the darknet and dark web sites involves illegal
or nefarious activity, there are many legal uses for the darknet.
