The Deep, Dark Web

I always interpreted the dark web as the place you accidentally end up and find something weird or random, like finding a space cat when you were looking for sandals. I did not consider that a sub-internet existed and is a “underground-market” of crime and theft. This side of the internet has existed as long as the web. We just live with the false pretense that what we see is all there is; we won’t “see” a shady looking man on a corner in a trench-coat mentioning watches… we won’t “see” a woman with a short skirt on a corner talking to a driver. What we see is what we get but that doesn’t mean that web-based crimes aren’t happening around us.

The web is a powerful tool as well as a vast landscape. It can be used to exploit others and sell illegal goods (ex. drugs, organs) just to name a few. Yet, it is also a landscape, it provides places for people to hide and gives them an environment to conduct their business. This combination creates a dangerous situation.

Unfortunately, people use the web for more sinister reasons than to look at silly cats and for this, we must be careful when we find ourselves in the wrong neighborhood on the web.