Advantages and Disadvantages of the Dark Web

Advantages

The dark web helps people to maintain privacy and freely express their views. Privacy is essential for many innocent people terrorized by stalkers and other criminals. The increasing tendency of potential employers to track posts on social media can also make it difficult to engage in honest discussions publicly. Finally, the popularity of the dark web with criminals makes it a perfect way for undercover police officers to communicate.

One of the biggest advantages of the dark web is the difficulty of blocking it. Common forms of censorship, which block traffic to websites at specific choke points along the Internet hierarchy, do not work with encrypted overlay networks. For similar reasons, the dark web is more resistant to surveillance by governments and corporations. Whistle blowers, journalists, and other professionals at risk of targeted surveillance use the dark web to communicate sensitive information. And organizations including Human Rights Watch and the Electronic Frontier Foundation support the use of and access to the dark web.

Disadvantages

The dark web empowers ordinary people, but some people will inevitably abuse that power. The dark web can make it easier to commit some of the worst crimes. For example, the combination of the dark web and cryptocurrencies theoretically makes it much easier to hire someone to commit a murder. While the dark web promises privacy to its users, it can also be used to violate the privacy of others. Private photos, medical records, and financial information have all been stolen and shared on the dark web.

Since there’s more content to analyze, Deep Web search engines tend to be slower than standard search engines. Searching the Deep Web also requires a more precise search string. Deep Web searches should be reserved for serious, painstaking research, not for simple questions and basic Web surfing. Deep Web searches may also return sensitive personal information from normally restricted databases, creating ethical dilemmas and leaving individuals susceptible to fraud and identity theft. Everything on the deep web is completely untraceable and it’s only a matter of time before criminals take advantage of it. To put it simply, the deep web has become a corrupted hub of criminal activity. The transfer of drugs, illegal weapons and the hiring of contract killers is an almost daily occurrence on this medium. Illegal bidding market places similar to E-bay have been set up on the deep web to sell these illegal goods and, no matter how hard they try; there is nothing the law can do to stop it. These illegal market places are extremely efficient and even boast a user-friendly interface and search bar to help criminals save time in locating their illegal goods. The currency used in these marketplaces is the cyber currency Bitcoin, which only adds to the impossibility of the transfers and guilty parties being traced.