Definition: Dark Web

(1) A file sharing network used to illegally distribute copyrighted music and videos, as well as nefarious documents. Before the Internet, people used floppy disks, tape cartridges and bulletin boards (see BBS). See peer-to-peer network.

(2) A part of the "deep Web" that is only accessible via browsers such as Tor, which stands for "The Onion Router." Also called the "darknet" and "darknet market" (DNM), beginning around the turn of the century, the Dark Web hosts websites that sell illegal merchandise including drugs, weapons, stolen financial data, malware and cybercrime services. There are consultants who literally advertise "For a fee, I will wreck the life of any person."

Although merchandise is advertised in dollars or Euros, the purchase is paid in cryptocurrency, mostly Bitcoin, which hides the buyer's identity. Nevertheless, whenever physical merchandise is shipped, the seller has a record of the buyer's street address, at least temporarily, and that data can be confiscated by the authorities.

Prior to crypto, various money transfer networks were used to pay for merchandise. For example, Costa Rica-based Liberty Reserve operated from 2006 to 2013 until it was shut down. See Tor, Bitcoin and Monero.

The Dark Web for Legitimate Privacy
Government agencies and nonpublic societies that for whatever reasons wish to remain anonymous may choose to conduct business on the Dark Web.

From time to time, companies and government agencies actually advertise employment opportunities on the Dark Web, because who better to prevent cybercrime than experienced crooks! See exploit industry, Silk Road, Joker's Stash, Freenet, anonymous Web surfing and deep Web.

The Amazon.com of Illegal Goods

Hacker services, drugs, guns, credit card numbers and more are available. It's a jolly place. Prices are expressed in dollars and paid in bitcoins (B symbol).

Onion URLs - Not So User Friendly

Dark Web URLs are hardly user friendly. There are no COM, ORG or NET domains in this part of the world; only ONION domains. See Tor.