There are those who are saying the “dark web” is relatively harmless but that causes me to question whether they’ve ever been to the “dark web” at all.
I’ve been to the “dark web” to investigate what was there hoping to find sources for real news - the stuff they censor and don’t publish in mainstream media in order to see the true story of what is going on, such as in Syria, North Korea, China, or Iran for example. There are some news and information dark sites that are useful. But the “dark web” is dark for a reason - it’s a great place for anonymity (unless of course Edward Snowden is right that the NSA cracked Tor encryption), but also a place for crime. People set up a website on the dark web if they are either extremely paranoid about their web habits being tracked, or if they are doing something they shouldn’t be doing.
Even on the regular worldwide web (which you are using right now to visit Quora, or check your email, or go on Facebook and other websites) you can easily use Google, Bing, or Yahoo to find disturbing stuff like websites with death videos, all of IS’s videos, porn of all kinds, and even websites that will discreetly offer drugs. So if you think that the worldwide web is bad then you are definitely not prepared for the “dark web” because the dark web is vastly different. There’s nobody on the dark web who will complain about your dark site, and even if they didn’t like what you had there’s nobody regulating the dark web or keeping you from seeing anything anybody wants to put there. There is no dark web overseer to prevent a person putting anything they wanted on their dark site.
The dark web is primarily (I’d guess about 80% to 90%) made up of dark sites that cannot pass muster on either the worldwide or the deep web because they include, support, display, or encourage something criminal. These include but are not limited to cannibal sites, human and animal torture for pay sites (meaning “For x Bitcoin we will torture and skin a live puppy on live video for you” or “For x Bitcoin we’ll kidnap a hooker then rape and torture her according to your request and wishes” and other horrible stuff like that), murder for hire sites (“For x Bitcoin we’ll kill xyz”), bestiality (humans having sex with animals), hacked data including live and active credit card numbers, home addresses with names, and email addresses with passwords, disturbingly HUGE numbers of pedophilia and child trafficking sites (including kidnapping instructions), drug sites for every drug on the planet in quantities from one pill to kilos, illegal weapons including land mines and missiles, and anything else vile that you can imagine.
There isn’t a universal “Google” for the dark web; you can’t just go there and perform a search and then get a list of sites. Instead you need to know the links in advance. Links to these places are not always easy to get, and many links are only available through people or groups who share them privately to those they already know, or will place them on the “deep web” where you also need instructions and directions in order to find them, and this is intentional. If you are living in a country like North Korea where you would be executed for criticizing the government then the last thing you’d want is for North Korean officials to find out about your dark site and actively find ways to identify you (some regimes are notorious for having officials who go to the dark web information forums and faking their identity then befriending people and putting together loose pieces of information to track down critics of their governments. Hopefully that sort of thing won’t be happening in America any time soon).
A lot of dark web sites are active for only a short time, probably out of paranoia, so you might for instance get a link with the thought to visit it only to find that the site no longer exists and there’s no forwarding to a new address. The whole point of the dark web is to be able to surf it and operate on it without the knowledge of anybody who has the ability to spy on you, as a result there simply can’t be a universal search engine for the dark web - no Google of the dark sites - that will give you an exhaustive listing of every dark web site out there. People on there don’t want to be found by anybody except those who have a reason to be there.
You might, for instance, find a few links on the worldwide web or on the deep web or through a person you’ve come in contact with and then on that dark website there are further links for other dark websites, and those lead to dark sites with more links, which lead to a site with even more links, and so on and so on, and you go deeper and darker the further along you go. (There’s even a place known as the “shadow web” which is even darker than the dark web and you do not get in there without paying with Bitcoin, and only through the direction of highly secure and reputable known contacts - in other words, there’s a place even worse than the dark web).
Personally, the “dark web” is not a place I visit often, but when I do it’s only for news and information on things that I believe are socially, ethically, and morally important (such as human rights, freedom, liberty, or things that can help people survive in a war zone, etc…). However there are an increasing number of people who are putting up regular hum-drum sites on the dark web simply because they do not like NSA spying, or fear that the worldwide web will be further restricted, etc… Unfortunately, there is also a practice that I’ve both heard frequently from others, and have actually experienced myself, where someone shares dark web links claiming that it’s for a discussion forum or a news site but it ends up leading to something disgusting. A couple years ago I had gotten a link that I was told was a forum providing information about human rights abuses and secret executions in mainland China, but it ended up being a bestiality site with a picture on the home page of a donkey ejaculating in a guy’s mouth. Needless to say I was not happy by being tricked in such an utterly gross way. I say this to point out that even though there are redeeming and important parts of the dark web, yet there’s something about the dark web that brings out the worst in a lot of people. That is not something I enjoy or indulge in and I’m sure if you are a sensitive, caring, aware human being with even the least amount of empathy you would come to the same conclusion: the dark web is NOT a place to root around and randomly surf in. The perceived anonymity of the worldwide web is enough to turn some nice people into mean and cruel trolls online, or in comment sections like on YouTube and so on. But the trusted anonymity of the dark web is enough to bring out the darkness of the human soul.
Let me also offer you a preachy but important caution: if you have it in your mind to visit the dark web in order to fulfill a dark lust - don’t do it. As I said before there are reports that the NSA, using the insanely powerful supercomputers at their disposal, had successfully cracked Tor’s encryption a couple years ago and are able to secretly monitor who is visiting any Tor website - in other words you are not truly anonymous. There are dark sites that, for example, offer drugs for sale. The biggest dark site drug source called Silk Road was discovered and shut down by the FBI a couple years ago. Think before you act. For example think logically about what would happen if you were to purchase illegal drugs on a dark website simply because you trusted that the person running the site was just some random schmuck in his basement. Well, in order to receive them you have to pick them up somewhere you’ve both agreed upon, or have them delivered somewhere that they know about. Right there is the weak spot because you’ve practically written “guilty” on your face and put yourself in a situation of being caught. Don’t assume you’re anonymous and can commit criminal acts with impunity. As the saying goes, “Karma can be a bitch” and it’s true. The Biblical concept is even clearer: you shall reap what you sow. If you visit a dark site that presents illegal and/or criminal material, or you engage in something on there which harms an helpless child, a kidnapped adult, or an innocent animal you WILL be found out some day, some how, some way; or the same vile thing will happen to you, a friend, or a family member and wake you up to reality. Don’t go to the dark web to satisfy dark and gross urges or break the law. Put yourself in other people’s shoes, and show empathy, don’t give in to darkness. Imagine yourself a victim, and imagine how the victims feel - their fear, their confusion, their pain.
The bottom line here is that the dark web definitely is useful and is an important resource for sharing important information in countries with censorship or government intrusion where freedom, liberty, and human rights are absent, or where there are civil wars where the true facts are hard to get in or out - about 10% to 20% of dark websites are useful, just, and justifiable - but every human vice is available on the dark web - the darkest most vile human desires, interests, or curiosities are there. Therefore, I’d urge you to stay away unless you are legitimately looking for censored news or information that is helpful and productive which allows you to further the cause of liberty, freedom, human rights, and end suffering.
