For some time now, the media has been talking more and more about the so-called Deep Web or Dark Web. It is almost always done to relate it to criminal activities that take place in the depths of the network, and very rarely stop to explain what that Dark Web is. An example of this is that they call it the Deep Web, a misnomer in most cases.
That is why today we are going to try to explain to you simply and understandably what exactly the Dark Web is, and what is its difference with the Deep Web. And if you are curious, we will also tell you how to download it and use a browser specially created to navigate it. Thus, although they are two quite similar terms, you will be able to learn to differentiate them.
What exactly is the Dark Web?
To understand what the Dark Web is, you have to understand four different concepts: Clearnet, Deep web, Dark web, and Darknet. The easiest to understand is Clearnet, which is the Internet as you know it, the pages you find on Google and other search engines and which you can access directly from them. For example, Xataka is a Clearnet page, since if you google it you will find it quickly, and if you enter its web address you will have no problem entering.
~90% of the content on the web is not accessible through search engines. That’s part of the Deep Web, which encompasses all the information that you can’t publicly access. These can be conventional pages protected by a paywall, but also files stored in Dropbox, emails stored on your provider’s servers, and all those pages that are created for a few moments, for example, when you configure a travel search engine and it shows you the content.
Imagine, for example, a page that you access by typing a conventional web address, but whose content you cannot access if you do not pay a certain fee or a monthly fee. That is the Deep Web. So is the page that is generated when you are using a travel search engine. It is a unique website configured with the data you have entered, and which cannot be accessed directly.
If the Deep Web is 90% of the Internet, the Dark Web would occupy only 0.1% of it. It is a portion of the Internet intentionally hidden from search engines, with IP addresses masked and accessible only with a special web browser. The Dark Web is therefore part of the Deep Web, but they are different things. For example, if the Deep Web were a city, the Dark Web would be several neighborhoods. They are part of the city, but they are not the city.
The Dark Web is the content that you can find on different Darknets, which are each one of the networks that you can only access with specific programs. The most popular is TOR, but you also have Freenet, I2P, or ZeroNet. Each of these is a Darknet, but when we refer to all of them in general we use the term Dark Web.
The Dark Web is usually defined as an area that cannot be indexed by conventional search engines, which means that you cannot find its pages in Google, Bing, and other search engines. But there is some exception. For example, search engines for Darknets like the TOR network have been created, and we have some search engines like DuckDuckGo that are also working on including this type of content.
If you have a broader explanation of these concepts so that you understand them. It is also important to make it clear that the Dark Web is not bad by definition, that many of its myths are false, and that it has quite a few pages with constructive content. In addition, the Dark Web serves as a shelter for persecuted activists in countries that are particularly strict with freedom of expression and helps others to bypass local censorship to access information.
How to enter the dark web
Each Darknet has its login method, but considering that TOR is the most popular on the Dark Web, that is where we are going to teach you how to log in. The first thing you have to do is go to the Tor Browser page and click on the icon of your operating system to download it. It is a browser based on Firefox specially created to enter TOR without having to configure anything. You just open it and it automatically connects you.
Choose the destination folder and install it, then launch the browser. You will see that it does not open automatically, but first shows you a window that tells you that you can connect or configure the connection. Click on the Connect button, and when the connection process is finished, Tor Browser will open and you will be able to browse both the Clearnet and the Tor network with it. It comes with the DuckDuckGo search engine configured to also find .onion pages, the domain of the websites of this Darknet.
A good starting point is to search for “The Hidden Wiki” and enter the first result even if it is a .com page. In it, you will see a large number of .onion pages and their description in English ordered by theme. From there, all you have to do is visit the different pages and browse their content.
Sharlene Meriel is an avid gamer with a knack for technology. He has been writing about the latest technologies for the past 5 years. His contribution in technology journalism has been noteworthy. He is also a day trader with interest in the Forex market.
