The Deep Web and its political implications for the Culture of Sharing.

The Deep Web and its political implications for the Culture of Sharing.

Even though the topic is not as taboo as it was a couple years ago, I am not going to assume that y’all know what the Deep Web is. Prepare yourself for the most mind-blowing statement since the discovery of the finiteness of the universe: only 4% of websites are visible and available for the regular internet user. Traditional search engines such as Google and Yahoo! are not capable of accessing the vast majority of the Internet.

For those that are already into this subject, maybe it’s time to bring down all the prejudice that mainstream media is trying to inflict on the public opinion. There is the deep web, and there is the dark web. The latter is only a portion of the former. It seems to me that, whenever addressing the issue, many journalists mix the two up and, what is even worse, they seem to think they are one and the same thing. Let’s shed some light here.

There is A LOT going on in the deep web, that part is true. The dark web is the portion within the deep web where many illegal activities take place, very illegal stuff in fact. Trafficking, hardcore pedophilia, slavery, heavy hacking. You can even buy or sell human organs, if that’s what you are into. In all fairness, there is an event that may explain why the deep web got so much bad publicity; in 2013 the FBI shut down a site called The Silk Road, something that really got the attention of the media. The Silk Road was a website located in the dark web, and it could be described as the E-Bay for drugs. So, go figure.

But the deep web is much more than that. What lies beneath its existence is a powerful set of ideologies with which you can concur or not but, unlike the deep web drug and human markets, are legitimate all the same. Also, and it goes without saying, Vinylmint.com does not support any of the illegal activities described above. That being said, let us carry on.

So, if you are not looking forward to participate in illegal activities, what can you do in the depths of the World Wide Web? Firstly, get involved in very interesting and relevant discussions. The deep web is the place of choice for libertarians, anarchists and every other political subculture that defies the traditional ways of government. Beyond polarizing, here left and right winged movements take their diversity to the next level.