What is the dark web?

[Fvold]

You can try the dark web by opening this http://wtj5psom5zufu4yo.onion forum. I even opened via Firefox and Chrome if using a VPN. But usually a TOR browser is used for this.
By the way, I often chat on forums on the darkweb.

[dataispower]

I've visited there once or twice to feed my curiosity, not for any special purpose. It can be accessed by Tor Browser, it doesn't support the usual www sites so, I doubt if Chrome and normal browsers would be able to operate the forums in the dark Web. It is a part of the web, though not openly accessible like every other ones out here.

[decodx]

I've visited there once or twice to feed my curiosity, not for any special purpose. It can be accessed by Tor Browser, it doesn't support the usual www sites so, I doubt if Chrome and normal browsers would be able to operate the forums in the dark Web. It is a part of the web, though not openly accessible like every other ones out here.

When it comes to onion links, it is always better to use the tor browser. However, there are some ways to open onion links from other browsers than tor.

You can use "Onion search engine" chrome extensions to open .onion links from chrome.
You can also open onion links with Firefox without any external extensions:

You can open onion links with firefox. At first search about:config in the search bar.
After that click accepts the risk and continue and then you need to search onion from given search bar option.
Then you will see four option. You need to select all four options as false. Then go back and enjoy surfing onion links.

https://toptechpal.com/how-to-open-onion-links-on-chrome/

[peter0425]

You can try the dark web by opening this .onion forum. I even opened via Firefox and Chrome if using a VPN. But usually a TOR browser is used for this.
By the way, I often chat on forums on the darkweb.

Is it safer? I'm afraid that Dark web will make us suffer risk using our details via internet.

but is there any chance that we will be safer?

[decodx]

You can try the dark web by opening this .onion forum. I even opened via Firefox and Chrome if using a VPN. But usually a TOR browser is used for this.
By the way, I often chat on forums on the darkweb.

Is it safer? I'm afraid that Dark web will make us suffer risk using our details via internet.

I don't understand what you mean. How can the dark web be more or less secure for your personal information?
It is your responsibility to protect your private information.

[Junii99]

The dark web is where people can buy illegal drugs and firearms. It's also dotted with sites that specialize in illicit pornography, including child pornography. It's a part of the internet that you can't find with traditional search engines such as Google. Because it is hidden..

[Witchlist]

Darkweb is a collection of websites that cannot operate on mainstream internet because of Government restrictions on the services they're offering.
So they operate on another protocol.
Think of this like Bitcoin and Bank.

Bank <--> Internet (Gov controlled)
Bitcoin <--> Darkweb (Out of Gov Control)

I know this was a bad comparison but it proves the point.

[PrimRock]

Darkweb is a collection of websites that cannot operate on mainstream internet because of Government restrictions on the services they're offering.
So they operate on another protocol.
Think of this like Bitcoin and Bank.

Bank <--> Internet (Gov controlled)
Bitcoin <--> Darkweb (Out of Gov Control)

I know this was a bad comparison but it proves the point.

Thanks perfectly explained.

[GeekWisdom]

The 'dark web' is not just TOR/.onion domains used by criminals to carry out illegal activities. . There are other ways to hide content as well, and hiding content is not inherently 'evil'.

People talk about 'dark web' and 'deep web', and suggest that 'deep web' is not-indexed data, and the dark is '.onion' sites, but it is a fair bit more complicated.


In the beginning, the WWW was DARK (and not yet deep).  There were several WWW sites, and unless you had them bookmarked, or use a directory, they were hard to find. If you wanted to find new stuff on the web, you basically had to get to it from a link from a site you already knew.  Search engines tried to make this better, but in the early days searching the web and actually finding what you were looking for - was not nearly as easy to do as today.

Privacy on the internet, became (and continues to be) a concern, with people giving away their private information, without even knowing it, and with organizations tracking that information for their own nefarious terms. 

The WWW has moved into the *light* (non-dark). Websites today require you to share who you really are, where you really are, and what your are doing. Nothing is private, and almost everything is open to be 'seen'.  An entire generation of people today simply 'accept this' as they way the world is.


Technology such as TOR (and VPN for that matter) help people respect privacy, it makes it very hard to trace what YOU are doing on the internet. In a sense you have 'gone dark' (not dark meaning 'evil') but dark meaning like 'hard to find'

But this technology is a double edged sword, if you are 'hiding' what you are doing, people commonly ask 'why? - what do you have to hide?', many people hide there illegal, immoral, or otherwise disgusting things, but they still need to 'share' these things with others, and so dark web site frequently (not entirely) but  frequently are used by people to preform actions unacceptable to society as a whole.

BUT the Dark Web has "good" side. There are many areas in the world where regular websites (facebook, google, news sites) are not accessible in those countries. ISP's (or the countries) prevent users from seeing these sites.  Essentially operating as a type of 'propaganda' machine, prevent people from reading the point of views of others that are against those of their institution. 

So sites like facebook, duckduckgo, riseup (and even the CIA) have dark web sites TOO.  Not because they want to do illegal activities, but so that others who may not have access to freedom of speech and thought, can get access, and cannot be tracked or prosecuted for doing so.

As I said, it is not just '.onion domains' that make things 'dark' . Cryptocurrency can be used to help give access or share access in areas of the world where they would otherwise not be able to. One famous example is of a student who was raped in a collage, the story was hidden from the public, and she got the word out by sending her story as text inside blockchain transactions. Her story is now permanently etched into the Ethereum blockchain. (Google '#meetoo ethereum censorship' to learn more)

Yes I have used the Dark Web, and like anything else, a tool/technology is what you choose to make of it. Just as not all bitcoin is used for illegal activities, not all dark web is for illegal things either, but it helps keep you more or less 'private' or 'anonymous'. 

My advice - If you decide to get into TOR - never be and END node.  Those that choose to run TOR as an END node are indeed brave (or just dumb). In such situations, expect to get a lot of calls from anti-piracy sites, police organizations, etc. You are essentially sharing your IP address with others, and the end node is always traceable back to you (even if you were sharing it with someone else)

[Love3angle]

Have you ever used the dark web and for what purposes? I even found several such forums, but I could not open them. It feels like the browser just doesn't support them.

I tried to find websites in ".onion" related but unable to find any, most of what i found were dead links on open web, so after a while i stopped looking in dark web it became borking, If anyone has any links that works then post here or PM me.

[MainJade]

Where illegal stuff goes on.

[RSAminer]

If you want to get started go here https://tails.boum.org/
Use a USB stick to install tails onto and boot from that on a separate laptop/pc.

[Marvelman]

Have you ever used the dark web and for what purposes? I even found several such forums, but I could not open them. It feels like the browser just doesn't support them.

I tried to find websites in ".onion" related but unable to find any, most of what i found were dead links on open web, so after a while i stopped looking in dark web it became borking, If anyone has any links that works then post here or PM me.

It doesn't work that way; dark web links can't be found using traditional search engines; all you'll find are fake and low quality sites.
In order to access dark web content, you have to know exactly the .onion web address you type into the browser or use a bookmark to access it.

[bitterguy28]

The dark web is where people can buy illegal drugs and firearms. It's also dotted with sites that specialize in illicit pornography, including child pornography. It's a part of the internet that you can't find with traditional search engines such as Google. Because it is hidden..

Lol don't just specified the negative part of darkweb because there are also good use of the area like how we use our traditional browser.

though it has been used and abused by criminals and bad elements , but remember that even in regular browser there are still drugs and firearms buying and selling.

[Ucy]

The dark web is where people can buy illegal drugs and firearms. It's also dotted with sites that specialize in illicit pornography, including child pornography. It's a part of the internet that you can't find with traditional search engines such as Google. Because it is hidden..

Lol don't just specified the negative part of darkweb because there are also good use of the area like how we use our traditional browser.

though it has been used and abused by criminals and bad elements , but remember that even in regular browser there are still drugs and firearms buying and selling.

If you invent something to fight or escape evil, you'll need to make the invention difficult for evil to thrive on it otherwise the evil you are trying to fight with your invention will use it against you and others... then you end up creating More problems and probably solving little to no problem.

[KarmaIsme]

Well it's best to stay away from darkweb, who knows if your IP gets leaked somehow and some psychopath gets your address then you're doomed.

[GeekWisdom]

If you invent something to fight or escape evil, you'll need to make the invention difficult for evil to thrive on it otherwise the evil you are trying to fight with your invention will use it against you and others... then you end up creating More problems and probably solving little to no problem.

I am not certain that the responsibility of how a person uses an invention should rest on the shoulders of the inventor. I would think it rests within the society that uses it.

What I can tell you from experience with software development, is making a technology 'hard for evil to thrive', just makes 'hackers' see it as a challenge and they will
work EVEN harder to break it.

To prove this, simply post to all your social media the phrase that your PC is completely firewalled and unhackable and the IP Address is x.x.x.x

Or better yet include a link to the song 'unhackable' by Bob Ricci. 

I am using the terms 'hacker' and 'evil' loosely here for illustration purposes not all hackers do 'evil', and like beauty - evil can be in the hands of the beholder too.

[GeekWisdom]

Well it's best to stay away from darkweb, who knows if your IP gets leaked somehow and some psychopath gets your address then you're doomed.

a) Your chances of your 'IP' being leaked are the same regardless if you are on the dark web or not

b) Generally speaking your 'IP' is never tied to your home address, (I assume that is what you mean by a psychopath getting your 'address'?)  I suppose if you are on your mobile, and your GPS is on, and your phone is hacked, but again the risk of this does not change dark web or not

c) As noted previously, you can use TOR without being an 'end node'. If you are not an 'end node'. The traffic is not traceable to you in any direct way, you are just a peeling of an onion of routed traffic

[Marvelman]

Well it's best to stay away from darkweb, who knows if your IP gets leaked somehow and some psychopath gets your address then you're doomed.

What you're saying makes no sense to me. Why would anyone be harmed just by using the dark web?
It's like saying: it's best to stay away from the Internet.

[BADecker]

What is the dark web?


Black spray paint where the spider lives.