Would you know how to access the dark web?

[NoFriendsNoEnemies]

Just that.

Whenever someone appears to be convicted of child abuse, accessing violent porn etc they always seem to trot out the cliche that they came across the images by mistake or that they were downloaded to them when they were downloading something else.

And for some obscure reason they always have their band of loyal supporters who believe them.

But quite apart from the fact that it’s obviously lies, I was always under the impression that to access that kind of material you had to visit the dark web, and so accessing that kind of thing in error is in fact not possible.

But how many people would actually know how to access the dark web? And if they wouldn’t how could anyone believe that these kinds of things could be stumbled upon in error?

Would you know how to access the dark web? Not for nefarious purposes obviously, but just in general. If you wanted to access it, would you know how?

British laws only apply to websites run in Britain, physically having offices here. That's the loophole whereby online gambling businesses can circumvent the usual restrictions on gaming licences here. Porn is very similar in that regard. Often "the dark web" is used by reporters simply to mean websites that are difficult to access by normal means

I think I know how to do it but have never tried. There was a trend on YouTube of youtubers ordering mystery boxes from the dark web and unboxing them. I don’t know how much of it was real or faked but was mildly entertaining.

@CoastalWave

No.

I also though don't understand why if it's able to be accessed, it can't just be totally shut down?!

Someone / something must control it?

No single authority has jurisdiction over the entirety of the internet, hence why it's virtually impossible to police, and why people constantly demanding the UK government ban internet porn are wasting their time.

What is the UK government supposed to do to legislate against content hosted in Florida (for example), or any other part of the world over which they have absolutely no authority?

No, I'll leave that to the criminals and perverts.

It's not about that though, it's about privacy, which of course attracts these sorts too, but it's very useful for lots of reasons. Especially at times like now, I know of Russians & Ukrainians using it atm to stay safe whilst seeing what's really going on

& you're not tripping over criminal or pervy material on there any more than you are Google, you'd have to go looking

Sure do.

I only know you'd have to use Tor but I wouldn't know where to start or how to navigate the dark Web. The thing that confuses me though is people say its untraceable...so how do people get caught accessing illegal stuff on there??

It’s just a different browser you download with greater privacy 🤷‍♀️

(I think)

Yes for work. It can be used for good or bad, same as everything in life really.

Apart from porn what's on the dark web that cannot be on Google I wonder.

There's actually nothing wrong with accessing the dark web per se, you use the Tor browser and websites like the BBC are on there so that people can avoid censorship.

It's what you access that matters.

@justasking111

Apart from porn what's on the dark web that cannot be on Google I wonder.

Western media use it so that people in eg China, or now, Russia, can access their websites.

I'm an IT professional, so I could easily look up and understand the practical details of how to do so.
But I have zero interest in doing so. In my younger hacking days, perhaps, but I'm well past that...

I'm aware that the browser is called "Tor". Supposedly the Dark Web was set up for the US military to communicate in secret (what better way to make it difficult for enemy hackers than to open up access to the network to the public so that your secret messages are buried amongst a sea of drug deals and CSA images).

Quite a lot of people will use the dark Web, whether they are paedophiles, secret agents, drug dealers or terrorists. It can't be too difficult to navigate.

Posters have said that there's a lot of iffy content on the open web. This is true though the Internet Watch Foundation does work with ISPs to block the obviously illegal stuff so it doesn't stay accessible for long, at least unless you are really trying to find it using tools to bypass their filters.

The sort of pictures we're talking about though are not the sort that one might come across on PornHub, the stuff where it's a bit debatable whether the participants really are 18 or if they're actually 17. The police haven't got the manpower to go around double-checking whether some obscure "actress" or "model" from the other side of the world using a pseudonym was actually 18 at the time the images were made. No, if the police are involved, we're talking about children clearly below the age of consent, never mind the higher limit for appearing in pornography. Trust me, one doesn't just accidentally stumble across an indecent image of a twelve year old while searching for "barely legal teens". No, again you have to be actually trying to access that sort of shit to find it, whether on the open web or the dark web.

And it's never just one picture, is it? Whenever you read about these cases in the press it's thousands of them. Even if you "accidentally" came across an album of (say) 50 photos, you should have stopped before downloading the other 950.

I wondered about this when I realised that news is being accessed in Russia over the dark web … it hit me that if I was in Russia I’d be clueless and therefore one of the vulnerable

No.
I'm sure I could work it out.
Lot's of people use the dark Web for financial business or buying drugs.
I highly doubt you just stumble into a child sexual abuse video.

No, although I’m aware you need specific computer programmes to do so.

No
The dark web is just for criminals of various varieties.

@justasking111 Ordering and fulfilment of physical goods like drugs, weapons and other illicit material. Comms for criminality. The latter might be superseded if mainstream tech companies support for Team Paedo continues.

Yes.

Typically MN to assume it's just for criminal purposes, though

Yes.

I've had to in my job in the past. I have a long standing friend who taught me how years ago. He works for a government (not this one though he used to work for UK gov) and spends most of this working hours on it - criminals use it for all sorts of purposes unfortunately. Also as PPs have said it does allow some people in very restrictive regimes to see things they may otherwise never get to know about.

TOR stands for The Onion Router by the way because to find out what's going on you keep having to peal back layer after layer after layer

I'd love to know how some people picture it in their minds. Do they think it's like the Google page, only 'Google' is dripping with blood, and whatever you search just brings up links for drugs, guns and snuff films.

Onion 🧅 browser is something I heard of - but only for people accessing Silk Road - a sales site for illegal substances.
Think it was busted years ago.

Never tried to access it myself, nor would want to.

@JesusInTheCabbageVan

I'd love to know how some people picture it in their minds. Do they think it's like the Google page, only 'Google' is dripping with blood, and whatever you search just brings up links for drugs, guns and snuff films.

It's the ghosties and vampires and nasty things under the links that worry me...

You forgot the money laundering, porn, terrorism and people trafficking..

but its true about Google dripping with blood

I have accessed it once via a TOR browser, I think it was curiosity following a thread on here. Had a quick look at I think it was Silk Road market place where people were selling all kinds of drugs.
I uninstalled the lot though out of fear of accidentally coming across any child abuse. I don't think I would recover from seeing anything like that.

I am no It expert so it must have been very easy!

In theory I think I roughly have a vague idea on how you access it, I think you need to download software or something? Not really 100% sure. I've never tried, I think the idea of it seems a bit scary and lots of viruses and dodgy stuff. I agree it's not something you can accidentally do.