It's a free-to-use web browser based on Firefox that lets you access the dark web relatively safely. Step 1: Download the Tor browser from the official website and install it like you would any other application. Do not explore random links to websites you aren't aware of or familiar with. There are many legitimate websites on the dark web that can be worth visiting, but there are also the absolute extremes of illegal material, such as pornography and gore.

Only visit trusted websites with URLs that are maintained on a trusted source. ’People have a right to privacy to a certain extent, but governments have a duty of care to protect the population against criminals and terrorists in a physical or online context and this could impact personal privacy,’ he says.Warning: It is crucial that you exercise caution when exploring the dark web. Ideally, they will use this data to protect people. Professor Matthew Warren, Deakin University’s Director of Research and Chair of Information Systems, says it doesn’t necessarily mean the government will be trawling your records for dirt. These laws enable telecommunications companies to retain records of your internet use for two years and provide access to security agencies. In addition, data retention laws were passed in Australian Federal Parliament in March 2015. Digital crime and fraud is rising as our online activity intensifies. Our transactions and data usage are all traceable and hackable, too. You wouldn’t hand personal information to a stranger, but you run the risk of inadvertently doing so the more you rely on the internet.

It could be of value to people in countries including North Korea and China, where access is blocked. Facebook wants in on the action, too, having launched a dark web page that gives users a chance to access the site without surveillance concerns. Former US National Security Agency employee, Edward Snowden, used it to leak information about the NSA’s PRISM surveillance program to the media in 2013. Despite this, many traders continue to operate similar businesses in the dark web.īut it’s not all black market trading. In May 2015 he was sentenced to life in prison. In February 2015, Ross William Ulbricht was convicted of seven charges for being the site’s founder. It launched in 2011 and was shut down by the FBI in 2013. Approximately one million people using Silk Road made Bitcoin transactions that are estimated at US $1 billion. The dark web’s anonymity enabled people to conduct prohibited activities, the most successful of those being Silk Road, a marketplace for the trade of illegal goods.

Onion dark web