The Dark Web: Breeding Ground for Criminals or Safe Refuge Against Oppressive Regimes?

Whoever uses the Internet on a daily basis may not know much about the “Darknet.” Indeed, the Dark web is known to be is the best virtual space for trading drugs and weapons and also for child pornography.

On Tuesday, Europol announced that “About 150 people around the world who have been buying or selling drugs or weapons on the Dark Web have staged one of the largest operations ever against this hidden version of the internet.”

Europol explained that the operation called “Dark HunTOR” which “was based on a series of separate but integrated steps in Australia, Bulgaria, France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Switzerland, Britain and the United States."

In their operations targeting Dark web criminals, France24 website pointed out that “Law agents confiscated 26.7 million euros ($31 million) in cash and virtual currencies, as well as 45 guns and 234 kilograms (516 pounds) of drugs, including 25,000 ecstasy pills.”

However, although it is true that the dark web is a haven for criminals who deal with these illicit products and services, it is not completely dark as one may expect. There are other reasons that make this network an arena for the activity of individuals trying to escape state control and regime Tyranny.

A recent American study conducted by researchers from Virginia Tech and Skidmore College in New York showed that more than ninety percent of those who use the "dark web" seek privacy and ads-free navigation with no intention to access the illegal sites.

Global Targets

The dark web, which is a parallel version of the Internet where the anonymity of users is guaranteed, has been under increasing attacks for months by the international police services.

The Department of Justice, through the Joint Criminal Opioid and Darknet Enforcement (JCODE) team joined Europol to announce “the results of Operation Dark HunTOR, a coordinated international effort on three continents to disrupt opioid trafficking on the Darknet.”

In the United States, about 65 people were arrested in this process, which also allowed for the arrest of 47 people in Germany, 24 in Britain, four in Italy, four in the Netherlands, among others. Several of the arrested are "important targets" for Europol.

The operation comes as a continuation of the dismantling of the “DarkMarket” platform in January, led by the German police. This platform was presented by investigators at the time as the "widest" point of purchase on the electronic black market.

In Italy, the police also closed two illegal markets called “DeepSea” and “Berlusconi,” which together displayed “more than 100,000 advertisements for illegal products”, according to Europol, whose operation was carried out in coordination with the Judicial European Cooperation Unit Eurojust.

Europol explained that the arrest in January of the supposed operator of the "Dark Market" platform, a 34-year-old Australian, on the German-Danish border, "provided investigators around the world with a treasure of evidence."

Dark Web Users

Researchers from Virginia Tech and Skidmore College in New York tried to find out who uses the Tor network and for what purposes and what material is browsed on the network. For the purpose of the research, they used their own "Entry Guard" server.

With "Entry Guard" it is not possible to know much about the user, but it is possible to know if he is browsing a site that can also be browsed from a normal browser or not! Or that he uses what is known as the "onion service", which are sites that can only be browsed through the Tor network and browser only.

The result of the study was surprising, as it appeared that 93 percent of the sites that are browsed using Tor, are pages that can be browsed without Tor. The users use Tor only to maintain their privacy in the first place, while 6.7 percent of users use Tor for the purpose of obtaining the "onion service".

The study showed that what drives the few users to use this service, is that it provides illegal materials, and they want to remain hidden in this network. It is a service that anonymity service providers do not wish to remain accessible to those who use the Tor service for criminal purposes.

Crime Springboard

Dark web attracts criminals because of the privacy and anonymity it guarantees, which make the platform a springboard for crime.

According to the IMF website: “Some of the more prevalent illicit activities include arms trafficking, drug dealing, and the sharing of exploitative content—often involving children—such as pornography and images of violence and other types of abuse. Websites support the rhetoric of neo-Nazis, white supremacists, and other extremist groups.”

The pairing of dark web services with cryptocurrencies has led to expectations of a boom in crime.

Europol's Jean-Philippe Lecouffe said Operation Dark HunTOR had dealt a serious logistics and psychological blow to dark web criminals.

"The point of operations such as the one today is to put criminals operating on the dark web on notice," he said.

"The law enforcement community has the means and global partnerships to unmask them and hold them accountable for their illegal activities, even in areas of the dark web."  

Dark Web and Oppressive Regimes

Not only criminals who care about the private information of individuals, but also countries that want to obtain this huge amount of information. As collecting this information about a person from different Internet sites means that the state can secretly collect complete information about this person, it is the dream of the security services of any state to obtain complete information about its citizens, especially in countries ruled by authoritarian regimes.

In authoritarian countries, Personal and private information can pose a significant risk to users. For example, if the state prevents information, browsing foreign news websites can be dangerous for the user, especially for human rights defenders, journalists or minorities who may be subjected to persecution if they leave digital traces on the Internet indicating that they are carrying out a particular activity.