Cybercrime and the Darknet

as Anons say, ‘you can’t kill an idea’.

US attorney and Darknet law enforcer David J. Hickton has called the Darknet ‘the Wild West of the Internet’.240

large part of what happens here is criminal activity of grave concern to the government and the public; there are ‘drug dealers, hackers, hitmen, hoaxers, human traffickers, pimps, child sexual abusers, identity thieves, money launderers, leakers, political extremists, vigilantes, terrorists, and spies’234.

Pay-to-use databases and subscription-only services are on the Deep Web, such as Netflix.

the quantity of non-indexed websites is estimated to be 400–500 times greater than the number on the surface web.231

n July 2015, the FBI proudly proclaimed the success of Operation Shrouded Horizon. Arresting 70 people, the Department of Justice called it ‘the largest coordinated international law-enforcement effort ever directed at an online cybercriminal forum.’229

‘The Darknet is … very romantic … it’s been demonized. There are bad things that happen there just like there are bad things that happen anywhere human beings congregate.’ Alex Winter, director of Deep Web228

On the Darknet, human-rights and political activists enjoy privacy, a safe haven where they can avoid surveillance. Creativity blossoms in an atmosphere free from censorship and commercial advertising.

Cybercrime is any use of a computer for illegal reasons, including fraud, identity theft, stealing intellectual property, violating privacy or sharing child sexual abuse images. Cybercriminals frequently hack into computer systems, although they also use social engineering – persuading people to reveal private information that allows fraudsters to access their data. Many cybercriminals operate for financial gain, but others act to expose corruption or for political motives. The latter use illegal means but claim their reasons are legitimate.

Ironically, it is the whistleblowers who reveal such confidential documents who are considered cybercriminals. To access and expose those materials, they operate on the Darknet, using illicit hacking techniques and untraceable communications. Are those who carry out such actions lawless hackers, guilty of releasing millions of secret documents that should never see the light of day? Or are they committed but misunderstood activists, devoted to exposing the corruption and abuse of power of powerful people through freedom of information? This is just one of the conundrums of cybercrime and the Darknet.