ROLLING STONE / BLOG 9

         Here I am yet again. Writing about the Deep Web. You know you start noticing things once you've learned about them? They've always been there but now you're more educated and can notice them? That's how I am with the Dark Net/Deep Web/etc. I'm seeing it everywhere! Most recently I was at work and I saw in the mess of magazines the November issue of Rolling Stone. Right on the cover was "The Dark Web: Inside the Hidden Internet". I wasn't able to read the issue but I was lucky enough to find the matching article on Rolling Stone's website.




         Aside from learning more about what I already knew about the Deep Web on how it's below the "Surface" and uses Tor browsers to keep user anonymous, I found more out. I had no idea that the government funds the majority of the Deep Web for good reasons. I was under the assumption that the Tor browser software somehow funded the Deep Web and that it was only used for bad. I also discovered more about the "layers" of the Internet. Yes, there is the "Surface" and the "Deep Web" but there is then the "Darknet" which is the most private, most protected aspect of the Deep Web. Ulbricht's case was mentioned as well as "Darkode", a mass hacker forum and community that was operating in the Deep Web and has now moved into the Darknet. Terrorists have been using this side of the Internet for recruiting purposes and planning out attacks. The Deep Web has just gotten scarier and scarier the more that I've learned about it.




         I decided to watch a YouTube video on the kind of things you can find. That was a mistake. It made me angry, upset and have so many other feelings. It now makes so much sense that the government funds this for good purposes because before I knew that I was always so confused how these people were able to get away with all of this stuff. I figured it was as simple as outlawing Tor browsers. When there are good things coming from the Deep Web, however, things get messy. As the article states, "The same tools that keep government agents and dissidents anonymous keep criminals virtually invisible too".

         I am so unbelievably fascinated by the Deep Web and I hope to learn more about it even after this course has finished up. I'm thankful that this Rolling Stone article highlighted all of the good things that it can be used for because after hearing about all of the murder, child pornography and drugs that can be viewed/purchased via the Deep Web, my heart can rest a little lighter now that I know it's being balanced out (if it can be balanced out at all) with the good.

Article link: http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/news/the-battle-for-the-dark-net-20151022?page=2