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81-410: The darknets which constitute the dark web include small, friend-to-friend networks, as well as large, popular networks such as Tor , Hyphanet , I2P , and Riffle operated by public organizations and individuals. Users of the dark web refer to the regular web as clearnet due to its unencrypted nature. The Tor dark web or onionland uses the traffic anonymization technique of onion routing under

162-529: A cryptocurrency which aided in protecting user identities. The website was known for its illegal drug marketplace, among other illegal and legal product listings. Between February 2011 and July 2013, the site facilitated sales amounting to 9,519,664 Bitcoins. In October 2013, the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) shut down the Silk Road website and arrested Ulbricht. Silk Road 2.0 came online

243-571: A historical network of trade routes started during the Han Dynasty (206 BCE – 220 CE) between Europe, India, China, and many other countries on the Afro-Eurasian landmass. Silk Road was operated by the pseudonymous "Dread Pirate Roberts" (named after the fictional character from The Princess Bride ), who was known for espousing libertarian ideals and criticizing regulation . Two other individuals were also closely involved in

324-416: A node in a friend-to-friend overlay can automatically forward a file (or a request for a file) anonymously between two friends, without telling either of them the other's name or IP address . These friends can in turn automatically forward the same file (or request) to their own friends, and so on. Dan Bricklin coined the term "friend-to-friend network" in 2000. Silk Road (marketplace) This

405-482: A "terrible mistake" that "ruined his life." On 29 May 2015, Ulbricht was given five sentences to be served concurrently, including two of life imprisonment without the possibility of parole . He was also ordered to forfeit $ 183 million. Ulbricht's lawyer Joshua Dratel said that he would appeal the sentencing and the original guilty verdict. On 31 May 2017, the United States Court of Appeals for

486-423: A 5 million dollar investment to help their clients gather intelligence from the deep and dark web. There are numerous carding forums , PayPal and bitcoin trading websites as well as fraud and counterfeiting services. Many such sites are scams themselves. Phishing via cloned websites and other scam sites are numerous, with darknet markets often advertised with fraudulent URLs. The type of content that has

567-444: A case on a third DEA agent, who they claim was leaking information about the investigation and tampered with evidence to omit chat logs showing conversations with him. In a letter to Judge Forrest before his sentencing, Ulbricht stated that his actions through Silk Road were committed through libertarian idealism and that "Silk Road was supposed to be about giving people the freedom to make their own choices" and admitted that he made

648-458: A censorship-resistant hidden service, creating a large amount of bot-related traffic. Commercial darknet markets mediate transactions for illegal goods and typically use Bitcoin as payment. These markets have attracted significant media coverage, starting with the popularity of Silk Road and Diabolus Market and its subsequent seizure by legal authorities. Silk Road was one of the first dark web marketplaces that emerged in 2011 and has allowed for

729-454: A fixed fee was charged for each new seller account. Buyers and sellers conducted all transactions with bitcoins (BTC), a cryptocurrency that provides a certain degree of anonymity . Silk Road held buyers' bitcoins in escrow until the order had been received and a hedging mechanism allowed sellers to opt for the value of bitcoins held in escrow to be fixed to their value in US$ at the time of

810-496: A forum for terrorist propaganda, guiding information, and most importantly, funding. With the introduction of Bitcoin, an anonymous transactions were created which allowed for anonymous donations and funding. By accepting Bitcoin, terrorists were now able to fund money to purchase weaponry. In 2018, an individual named Ahmed Sarsur was charged for attempting to purchase explosives and hire snipers to aid Syrian terrorists, as well as attempting to provide them financial support, all through

891-548: A friend-to-friend network cannot find out who else is participating beyond their own circle of friends, so F2F networks can grow in size without compromising their users' anonymity. Retroshare , WASTE , GNUnet , Freenet and OneSwarm are examples of software that can be used to build F2F networks, though RetroShare is the only one of these configured for friend-to-friend operation by default. Many F2F networks support indirect anonymous or pseudonymous communication between users who do not know or trust one another. For example,

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972-497: A large number of intermediate servers, which protects the users' identity and guarantees anonymity. The transmitted information can be decrypted only by a subsequent node in the scheme, which leads to the exit node. The complicated system makes it almost impossible to reproduce the node path and decrypt the information layer by layer. Due to the high level of encryption, websites are not able to track geolocation and IP of their users, and users are not able to get this information about

1053-492: A presence as well as political discussion forums. Sites associated with Bitcoin , fraud -related services, and mail order services are some of the most prolific. As of December 2020, the number of active Tor sites in .onion was estimated at 76,300 (containing a lot of copies). Of these, 18 000 would have original content. In July 2017, Roger Dingledine , one of the three founders of the Tor Project, said that Facebook

1134-474: A quarter of the seized bitcoins. Another 144,342 bitcoins were kept which had been found on Ulbricht's computer, roughly $ 87 million. Tim Draper bought the bitcoins at the auction with an estimated worth of $ 17 million, to lend them to a bitcoin start-up called Vaurum which is working in developing economies of emerging markets. Ulbricht's trial began on 13 January 2015 in federal court in Manhattan . At

1215-524: A research fellow at ESSEC , and carried out with the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime , highlighted new trends in the use of bitcoin tumblers for money laundering purposes. Due to its relevance in the digital world, bitcoin has become a popular product for users to scam companies with. Cybercriminal groups such as DDOS"4" have led to over 140 cyberattacks on companies since the emergence of bitcoins in 2014. These attacks have led to

1296-416: A result, law enforcement has employed many other tactics in order to identify and arrest those engaging in illegal activity on the dark web. OSINT , or Open Source Intelligence, are data collection tools that legally collect information from public sources. OSINT tools can be dark web specific to help officers find bits of information that would lead them to gaining more knowledge about interactions going on in

1377-544: A short period of time by a sustained DDoS attack. On 23 June 2013, it was first reported that the DEA seized 11.02 bitcoins , then worth a total of $ 814, which the media suspected was a result of a Silk Road honeypot sting. The FBI has claimed that the real IP address of the Silk Road server was found via data leaked directly from the site's CAPTCHA and it was located in Reykjavík, Iceland . IT security experts have doubted

1458-449: A small part of the deep web, but requires custom software in order to access its content. This confusion dates back to at least 2009. Since then, especially in reporting on Silk Road , the two terms have often been conflated, despite recommendations that they should be distinguished. The dark web, also known as darknet websites, are accessible only through networks such as Tor ("The Onion Routing" project) that are created specifically for

1539-479: A steady stream of revenue, he started increasing oversight to ensure low transaction costs . To do this, he added measures to ensure trustworthiness with implementation of an automated escrow payment system and automated review system. Due, in part, to off-duty research conducted by IRS Criminal Investigation Special Agent Gary Alford, Ross Ulbricht was alleged by the FBI to be the founder and owner of Silk Road and

1620-505: Is a haven for criminal activity . The deep and dark web are applications of integral internet features to provide privacy and anonymity. Policing involves targeting specific activities of the private web deemed illegal or subject to internet censorship . When investigating online suspects, police typically use the IP (Internet Protocol) address of the individual; however, due to Tor browsers creating anonymity, this becomes an impossible tactic. As

1701-503: Is an accepted version of this page Silk Road was an online black market and the first modern darknet market . It was launched in 2011 by its American founder Ross Ulbricht under the pseudonym " Dread Pirate Roberts ." As part of the dark web , Silk Road operated as a hidden service on the Tor network , allowing users to buy and sell products and services between each other anonymously. All transactions were conducted with bitcoin ,

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1782-407: Is found to be different from the information indicated on their respective listings." Less is known about consumer motivations for accessing these marketplaces and factors associated with their use. Darknets markets also sell leaked credit cards that can be downloaded for free or purchased for use in illegal activities. Bitcoin is one of the main cryptocurrencies used in dark web marketplaces due to

1863-630: Is the biggest hidden service. The dark web comprises only 3% of the traffic in the Tor network. A February 2016 study from researchers at King's College London gives the following breakdown of content by an alternative category set, highlighting the illicit use of .onion services. The dark web is also used in certain extortion-related processes. It is common to observe data from ransomware attacks on several dark web sites, for example data sales sites or public data repository sites. Botnets are often structured with their command-and-control servers based on

1944-494: The Baltimore Silk Road investigation of Ulbricht, former Drug Enforcement Administration agent Carl Mark Force IV and Secret Service agent Shaun Bridges. The agents are alleged to have kept funds that Ulbricht transferred to them in exchange for purported information about the investigation. The agents were charged with wire fraud and money laundering . In late November 2016, Ulbricht's lawyers brought forward

2025-469: The Federal Bureau of Investigation , Europol , and Eurojust announced the arrest of Blake Benthall, allegedly the owner and operator of Silk Road 2.0 under the pseudonym "Defcon," the previous day in San Francisco as part of Operation Onymous . The creator of the relaunched website—an English computer programmer named Thomas White —was also arrested in the course of the shutdown, but his arrest

2106-530: The United States government in a civil forfeiture action. According to a press release by the U.S. Attorney's Office of the Northern District of California , the bitcoin wallet belonged to an "Individual X" who had originally acquired the bitcoins by hacking the Silk Road. In March 2013, the site had 10,000 products for sale by vendors, 70% of which were drugs. Drugs were grouped under

2187-507: The indie game Sad Satan was reviewed by YouTubers Obscure Horror Corner which they claimed to have found via the dark web. Various inconsistencies in the channel's reporting cast doubt on the reported version of events. There are several websites which analyze and monitor the deep web and dark web for threat intelligence. There have been arguments that the dark web promotes civil liberties, like "free speech, privacy, anonymity". Some prosecutors and government agencies are concerned that it

2268-407: The 1990s; however, the birth of the dark web attracted these organizations due to the anonymity, lack of regulation, social interaction, and easy accessibility. These groups have been taking advantage of the chat platforms within the dark web to inspire terrorist attacks. Groups have even posted "How To" guides, teaching people how to become and hide their identities as terrorists. The dark web became

2349-470: The FBI's claims because technical evidence suggests that no misconfiguration that could cause the specific leak was present at the time. Henry Farrell , an associate professor of political science and international affairs at George Washington University, analyzed Silk Road in an essay for Aeon in 2015. He noted that Ulbricht created the marketplace to function without government oversight but found it difficult to verify anonymous transactions. To sustain

2430-589: The Internet, and four conspiracy charges related to distribution of narcotics, computer hacking, money laundering, and false identity documents. He was separately indicted for a single murder-for-hire charge. Prosecutors alleged that Ulbricht paid $ 730,000 to others to commit the murders, although none of the murders actually occurred. Ulbricht ultimately was not prosecuted for any of the alleged murder attempts. The FBI initially seized 26,000 bitcoins from accounts on Silk Road, worth approximately $ 3.6 million at

2511-498: The Second Circuit denied Ulbricht's appeal, and affirmed the judgment of conviction and life sentence, in a written opinion authored by Gerard E. Lynch , United States circuit judge. The Supreme Court declined to review the case. In February 2013, an Australian cocaine and MDMA ("ecstasy") dealer became the first person to be convicted of crimes directly related to Silk Road, after authorities intercepted drugs that he

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2592-504: The Silk Road website, and was sentenced in Chicago to 10 years in prison on 29 May 2015 with his attorney, Paul Petruzzi, present. Dealer Steven Sadler was sentenced to five years in prison. There have been over 130 other arrests connected with Silk Road, although some of these arrests may not be directly related to Silk Road, and may not be public information for legal reasons. On 3 November 2020, after years of inactivity, observers of

2673-602: The United Kingdom, Australia, Germany, Canada, Sweden, France, Russia, Italy, and the Netherlands. During the 60-day period from 24 May to 23 July, there were 1,217,218 messages sent over Silk Road's private messaging system. The Farmer's Market was a Tor site similar to Silk Road, but which did not use bitcoins. It has been considered a 'proto-Silk Road' but the use of payment services such as PayPal and Western Union allowed law enforcement to trace payments and it

2754-585: The World Wide Web have been attempted as well as studies in the quality of goods received over the dark web. One such study was performed on Evolution, one of the most popular crypto-markets active from January 2013 to March 2015. Although it found the digital information, such as concealment methods and shipping country, "seems accurate", the study uncovered issues with the quality of illegal drugs sold in Evolution, stating that, "the illicit drugs purity

2835-496: The anonymous postings against the judge. "They do not in any way have anything to do with Ross Ulbricht or anyone associated with him or reflect his views or those of anyone associated with him," Dratel said. In late March 2015, a criminal complaint issued by the United States District Court for the Northern District of California led to the arrest of two former federal agents who had worked undercover in

2916-406: The bitcoin blockchain detected that two transactions totaling 69,370 bitcoin and bitcoin cash , worth approximately $ 1 billion in total at the time of transfer, had been made from 1HQ3Go3ggs8pFnXuHVHRytPCq5fGG8Hbhx , a bitcoin address associated with the Silk Road. At the time of transfer, it was worth 58 times its value in 2015. It was subsequently revealed that the transfer had been made by

2997-414: The bitcoins in its escrow accounts, valued at $ 2.7 million, were reported stolen. It was later reported that the vulnerability was in the site's "Refresh Deposits" function, and that the Silk Road administrators had used their commissions on sales since 15 February to refund users who lost money, with 50 percent of the hack victims being completely repaid as of 8 April. On 6 November 2014, authorities with

3078-495: The brand. In January 2015, Silk Road Reloaded launched on I2P with multiple cryptocurrency support and similar listing restrictions to the original Silk Road market. As of 2018, this website was also defunct. Meghan Ralston, a former harm reduction manager for the Drug Policy Alliance , was quoted as saying that the Silk Road was "a peaceable alternative to the often deadly violence so commonly associated with

3159-519: The dark web as well as other cybercrime. In March 2017 the Congressional Research Service released an extensive report on the dark web, noting the changing dynamic of how information is accessed and presented on it; characterized by the unknown, it is of increasing interest to researchers, law enforcement, and policymakers. In August 2017, according to reportage, cybersecurity firms which specialize in monitoring and researching

3240-479: The dark web on behalf of banks and retailers routinely share their findings with the FBI and with other law enforcement agencies "when possible and necessary" regarding illegal content. The Russian-speaking underground offering a crime-as-a-service model is regarded as being particularly robust. Many journalists , alternative news organizations , educators, and researchers are influential in their writing and speaking of

3321-467: The dark web. In 2015 it was announced that Interpol now offers a dedicated dark web training program featuring technical information on Tor, cybersecurity and simulated darknet market takedowns. In October 2013 the UK's National Crime Agency and GCHQ announced the formation of a " Joint Operations Cell " to focus on cybercrime. In November 2015 this team would be tasked with tackling child exploitation on

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3402-614: The dark web. There are at least some real and fraudulent websites claiming to be used by ISIL (ISIS), including a fake one seized in Operation Onymous . With the increase of technology, it has allowed cyber terrorists to flourish by attacking the weaknesses of the technology. In the wake of the November 2015 Paris attacks , an actual such site was hacked by an Anonymous -affiliated hacker group, GhostSec , and replaced with an advert for Prozac . The Rawti Shax Islamist group

3483-638: The dark web. Attempts to monitor this activity have been made through various government and private organizations, and an examination of the tools used can be found in the Procedia Computer Science journal. Use of Internet-scale DNS distributed reflection denial of service ( DRDoS ) attacks have also been made through leveraging the dark web. There are many scam .onion sites also present which end up giving tools for download that are infected with trojan horses or backdoors . Recently, around 100,000 compromised ChatGPT users' login information

3564-450: The dark web. Tor browser and Tor-accessible sites are widely used among the darknet users and can be identified by the domain ".onion". Tor browsers create encrypted entry points and pathways for the user, allowing their dark web searches and actions to be anonymous. Identities and locations of darknet users stay anonymous and cannot be tracked due to the layered encryption system. The darknet encryption technology routes users' data through

3645-769: The darknet, and making its use clear to the general public. Media coverage typically reports on the dark web in two ways; detailing the power and freedom of speech the dark web allows people to express, or more commonly reaffirms the illegality and fear of its contents, such as computer hackers. Many headlines tie the dark web to child pornography with headlines such as, "N.J. man charged with surfing 'Dark Web' to collect nearly 3K images of child porn", along with other illegal activities where news outlets describe it as "a hub for black markets that sell or distribute drugs". Specialist Clearweb news sites such as DeepDotWeb and All Things Vice provide news coverage and practical information about dark web sites and services; however, DeepDotWeb

3726-579: The flexibility and relative anonymity of the currency. With bitcoin, people can hide their intentions as well as their identity. A common approach was to use a digital currency exchanger service which converted bitcoin into an online game currency (such as gold coins in World of Warcraft ) that will later be converted back into fiat currency. Bitcoin services such as tumblers are often available on Tor , and some – such as Grams – offer darknet market integration. A research study undertaken by Jean-Loup Richet,

3807-492: The formation of other cybercriminal groups as well as Cyber Extortion. Many hackers sell their services either individually or as a part of groups. Such groups include xDedic , hackforum , Trojanforge, Mazafaka , dark0de and the TheRealDeal darknet market. Some have been known to track and extort apparent pedophiles. Cyber crimes and hacking services for financial institutions and banks have also been offered over

3888-417: The headings stimulants , psychedelics , prescription , precursors , other, opioids , ecstasy , dissociatives , and steroids / PEDs . Fake driver's licenses were also offered for sale. The site's terms of service prohibited the sale of certain items. When the Silk Road marketplace first began, the creator and administrators instituted terms of service that prohibited the sale of anything whose purpose

3969-529: The host. Thus, communication between darknet users is highly encrypted allowing users to talk, blog, and share files confidentially. A December 2014 study by Gareth Owen from the University of Portsmouth found that the most commonly hosted type of content on Tor was child pornography , followed by black markets , while the individual sites with the highest traffic were dedicated to botnet operations (see attached metric). Many whistleblowing sites maintain

4050-485: The most popularity on the dark web is illegal pornography—more specifically, child pornography . About 80% of its web traffic is related to accessing child pornography despite it being difficult to find even on the dark web. A website called Lolita City , which has since been taken down, contained over 100 GB of child pornographic media and had about 15,000 members. There is regular law enforcement action against sites distributing child pornography – often via compromising

4131-485: The murders of at least five people, but there is no evidence that the murders were actually carried out, and the accusations never became formal charges against Ulbricht. During the trial, Judge Forrest received death threats. Users of an underground site called The Hidden Wiki posted her personal information there, including her address and Social Security number. Ulbricht's lawyer Joshua Dratel said that he and his client "obviously, and as strongly as possible, condemn"

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4212-403: The network's top-level domain suffix .onion . The dark web has often been confused with the deep web , the parts of the web not indexed (searchable) by search engines. The term dark web first emerged in 2009; however, it is unknown when the actual dark web first emerged. Many internet users only use the surface web , data that can be accessed by a typical web browser . The dark web forms

4293-481: The next month, run by other administrators of the former site, but was shut down the following year as part of Operation Onymous . In 2015, Ulbricht was convicted in federal court for multiple charges related to operating Silk Road and was given two life sentences without possibility of parole . The website was launched in February 2011; development had begun six months prior. The name "Silk Road" comes from

4374-407: The person behind the pseudonym "Dread Pirate Roberts" (DPR). Alford searched for any mentions of the .onion URL or .tor address, stating that someone might have advertised or suggested the marketplace on Google. The first mention of the website was by a user named "altoid." Further searching into this altoid profile led him to a post about an open position that told interested applicants to contact what

4455-408: The record. In the second week of the trial, prosecutors presented documents and chat logs from Ulbricht's computer that, they said, demonstrated how Ulbricht had administered the site for many months, which contradicted the defense's claim that Ulbricht had relinquished control of Silk Road. Ulbricht's attorney suggested that the documents and chat logs were planted there by way of BitTorrent , which

4536-421: The sale to mitigate against Bitcoin's volatility. Any changes in the price of bitcoins during transit were covered by Dread Pirate Roberts. The complaint published when Ulbricht was arrested included information the FBI gained from a system image of the Silk Road server collected on 23 July 2013. It noted that, "From February 6, 2011 to July 23, 2013 there were approximately 1,229,465 transactions completed on

4617-458: The site and froze its activity, including its escrow system. A new temporary administrator under the screenname "Defcon" took over and promised to bring the site back to working order. On 13 February 2014, Defcon announced that Silk Road 2.0's escrow accounts had been compromised through a vulnerability in Bitcoin protocol called " transaction malleability ." While the site remained online, all

4698-399: The site and in an associated forum, where crowdsourcing provided information about the best sellers and worst scammers. Most products were delivered through the mail, with the site's seller's guide instructing sellers how to vacuum-seal their products to escape detection. Silk Road provided goods and services to over 100,000 buyers. Over the 2 + 1 ⁄ 2 years in which the website

4779-445: The site and tracking users' IP addresses . In 2015, the FBI investigated and took down a website called Playpen . At the time, Playpen was the largest child pornography website on the dark web with over 200,000 members. Sites use complex systems of guides, forums and community regulation. Other content includes sexualised torture and killing of animals and revenge porn . In May 2021, German police said that they had dismantled one of

4860-493: The site's growth and success, known as Variety Jones and Smedley . In June 2011, Gawker published an article about the site which led to an increase in notoriety and website traffic. U.S. Senator Chuck Schumer asked federal law enforcement authorities to shut it down, including the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) and Department of Justice . In May 2013, Silk Road was taken down for

4941-450: The site's source code to allow the site to be quickly recreated in the event of another shutdown. On 20 December 2013, it was announced that three alleged Silk Road 2.0 administrators had been arrested; two of these suspects, Andrew Michael Jones and Gary Davis, were named as the administrators "Inigo" and "Libertas" who had continued their work on Silk Road 2.0. Around this time, the new Dread Pirate Roberts abruptly surrendered control of

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5022-552: The site. The total revenue generated from these sales was 9,519,664 Bitcoins, and the total commissions collected by Silk Road from the sales amounted to 614,305 Bitcoins. According to the government, total sales were equivalent to roughly $ 1.2 billion and involved 146,946 buyers and 3,877 vendors. According to information users provided upon registering, 30 percent were from the United States, 27 percent chose to be "undeclared," and beyond that, in descending order of prevalence:

5103-509: The start of the trial, Ulbricht admitted to founding the Silk Road website, but claimed to have transferred control of the site to other people soon after he founded it. Ulbricht's lawyers contended that Dread Pirate Roberts was really Mark Karpelès , and that Karpelès set up Ulbricht as a fall guy. However, Judge Katherine B. Forrest ruled that any speculative statements regarding whether Karpelès or anyone else ran Silk Road would not be allowed, and statements already made would be stricken from

5184-463: The time. An FBI spokesperson said that the agency would hold the bitcoins until Ulbricht's trial finished, after which the bitcoins would be liquidated. In October 2013, the FBI reported that it had seized 144,000 bitcoins, worth $ 28.5 million, and that the bitcoins belonged to Ulbricht. On 27 June 2014, the U.S. Marshals Service sold 29,657 bitcoins in 10 blocks in an online auction, estimated to be worth $ 18 million at contemporary rates and only about

5265-408: The titles on this book club were pirated. This book club still exists as a private Tor-based chatroom. On 6 November 2013, administrators from the closed Silk Road relaunched the site, led by a new pseudonymous Dread Pirate Roberts, and dubbed it "Silk Road 2.0." It recreated the original site's setup and promised improved security. The new DPR took the precaution of distributing encrypted copies of

5346-534: The trading of weapons and identity fraud resources. These markets have no protection for its users and can be closed down at any time by authorities. Despite the closures of these marketplaces, others pop up in their place. As of 2020, there have been at least 38 active dark web market places. These marketplaces are similar to that of eBay or Craigslist where users can interact with sellers and leave reviews about marketplace products. Examination of price differences in dark web markets versus prices in real life or over

5427-456: The traditional platforms and to continue their service in all areas of the World Wide Web. Unlike Facebook, the privacy policy of the DWSN requires that members are to reveal absolutely no personal information and remain anonymous. There are reports of crowdfunded assassinations and hitmen for hire; however, these are believed to be exclusively scams. The creator of Silk Road , Ross Ulbricht ,

5508-465: The world's biggest child pornography networks on the dark web known as Boystown , the website had over 400,000 registered users. Four people had been detained in raids, including a man from Paraguay , on suspicion of running the network. Europol said several pedophile chat sites were also taken down in the German-led intelligence operation. Terrorist organizations took to the internet as early as

5589-583: Was Ross Ulbricht's personal email. He was arrested on 1 October 2013 in San Francisco in Glen Park Library, a branch of the San Francisco Public Library . During the arrest, the FBI seized Ulbricht's laptop which he was using to connect to the servers and manage the marketplace. Ulbricht was indicted on charges of engaging in a continuing criminal enterprise , distributing narcotics, distributing narcotics by means of

5670-490: Was arrested by Homeland Security investigations (HSI) for his site and allegedly hiring a hitman to kill six people, although the charges were later dropped. There is an urban legend that one can find live murder on the dark web. The term " Red Room " has been coined based on the Japanese animation and urban legend of the same name; however, the evidence points toward all reported instances being hoaxes . On June 25, 2015,

5751-582: Was found to be operating on the dark web at one time. Within the dark web, there exists emerging social media platforms similar to those on the World Wide Web, this is known as the Dark Web Social Network (DWSN). The DWSN works a like a regular social networking site where members can have customizable pages, have friends, like posts, and blog in forums. Facebook and other traditional social media platforms have begun to make dark-web versions of their websites to address problems associated with

5832-557: Was importing through the mail, searched his premises, and discovered his Silk Road alias in an image file on his personal computer. Australian police and the DEA have targeted Silk Road users and made arrests, albeit with limited success at reaching convictions. In December 2013, a New Zealand man was sentenced to two years and four months in jail after being convicted of importing 15 grams of methamphetamine that he had bought on Silk Road. 23-year-old Dutch drug dealer Cornelis Jan Slomp pled guilty to large-scale selling of drugs through

5913-447: Was in operation, it generated $ 183 million in sales and $ 13 million in commissions, based on the value of bitcoin at the time of transactions. Due to the significant rise in bitcoin value over that period, the revenue and commission are also sometimes reported as $ 1.2 billion and $ 80 million, respectively. Initially there were a limited number of new seller accounts available; new sellers had to purchase an account in an auction. Later,

5994-541: Was leaked. The market shares of various Silk Road successor sites were described by The Economist in May 2015. Silk Road had a Tor-based book club that continued to operate following the initial site's closure and even following the arrest of one of its members. Reading material included conspiracy theories and computer hacking . Some of the titles included mainstream books as well as books such as The Anarchist Cookbook and Defeating Electromagnetic Door Locks . Most of

6075-527: Was not made public until 2019 after he pled guilty to charges stemming from running the website and was sentenced to five years in prison. Among the charges White admitted to was creating child pornography, and chat logs recovered by police showed White discussing the possibility of launching a website to host such material. Following the closure of Silk Road 2.0 in November 2014, Diabolus Market renamed itself to 'Silk Road 3 Reloaded' in order to capitalize on

6156-477: Was running on Ulbricht's computer at the time of his arrest. On 4 February 2015, the jury convicted Ulbricht of seven charges, including charges of engaging in a continuing criminal enterprise, narcotics trafficking, money laundering, and computer hacking. The continuing criminal enterprise charge has a minimum sentence of 20 years. The amount of narcotics distributed also triggered an additional 10-year minimum. The government also accused Ulbricht of paying for

6237-559: Was shut down by authorities in 2019. The Hidden Wiki and its mirrors and forks hold some of the largest directories of content at any given time. Traditional media and news channels such as ABC News have also featured articles examining the darknet. Friend-to-friend A friend-to-friend (or F2F ) computer network is a type of peer-to-peer network in which users only make direct connections with people they know. Passwords or digital signatures can be used for authentication . Unlike other kinds of private P2P , users in

6318-454: Was shut down, due to a lack of demand. The Silk Road offered over 24,400 products related to drugs for sale and an infrastructure that made these transactions. The official sellers guide stated the prohibition of any sale of goods that were meant for harm or fraud, but allowed for prescription drugs, pornography, and counterfeit documents. Only users of Tor could access the Silk Road. Buyers were able to leave reviews of sellers' products on

6399-430: Was sold on the dark web in 2023. Additionally, the logs showed, in the opinion of the researchers, that the majority of the compromised ChatGPT passwords had been extracted by the data-stealing virus Raccoon. Scott Dueweke the president and founder of Zebryx Consulting states that Russian electronic currency such as WebMoney and Perfect Money are behind the majority of the illegal actions. In April 2015, Flashpoint received

6480-564: Was subsequently shut down by the FBI in 2012. Other sites already existed when Silk Road was shut down and The Guardian predicted that these would take over the market that Silk Road previously dominated. Atlantis was founded in March 2013 and closed six months later, while Project Black Flag closed in October 2013; both websites stole their users' bitcoins. In October 2013, Black Market Reloaded closed temporarily after its source code

6561-524: Was to "harm or defraud." This included child pornography , stolen credit cards, assassinations, and weapons of any type; other darknet markets such as Black Market Reloaded gained user notoriety because they were not as restrictive on these items as the Silk Road incarnations were. There were also legal goods and services for sale, such as apparel , art , books , cigarettes , erotica , jewellery , and writing services. A sister site, called "The Armoury," sold weapons (primarily firearms) during 2012, but

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