With the new X-Files season, I've had an excuse to watch some over the air TV for the first time in a while. Before and during the most recent episode there was a recurring teaser for the local evening news that went something like "the hidden Dark Nets that cyber criminals are using and why they're so difficult to shut down!"

The accompanying graphics were things like dark hooded figures in silhouette and images of credit cards being scanned on something resembling a flatbed scanner. The whole thing was a real reminded of why I never watch network news unless there's something very local and "breaking" that's going on in my city.

"The researchers, who have been studying and writing about encryption policy, sniffed around with a Tor browser and found 1,547 out of 5,205 total websites live on the dark web engaging in illegal activity."

It is one of the most common ways for distributing those three things, so yes, that "meme" is correct.

http://www.networkworld.com/article/3031661/internet/drugs-g...

You think the most common way to distribute drugs, weapons, and child porn is over Tor hidden services? I'm incredibly skeptical.

Doubtless a significant percentage of child porn is distributed that way, but I'm under the impression they prefer to use Tor to access encrypted blobs others host for them, like on Usenet. I've met many drug users, but only two of them were even aware of hidden services. And however many guns are sold on hidden services will never compare to the number purchased by the US military, or sold at gun conventions, etc.

I'm surprised 3/4 aren't illegal!

So far there have been no signs of large scale arms or drug trafficking activity on these websites though.

It's a self-fulfilling prophecy.

Every time a journalist writes that it is "often associated with" it gradually becomes more associated with it.

Well, "drugs, weapons, and child porn" are better clickbait than "resisting censorship and repression", no?

thanks, I was just about to quote the same paragraph. Totally ludicrous.

Every time a misguided journalist writes about the "underground drug-web", which is shaped like the underneath of an iceberg, and 1000x larger than the "real" Internet, Tim Berners-Lee sheds a tear. /s

Please make it stop.

To be fair that is exactly how the Internet itself was treated by the media in the 90s.

To be fair, they do have a thriving market for PayPal accounts and money laundering.

DEAR NSA: THE FACT THAT I RESEARCHED THIS DOES NOT MEAN YOU GET TO KICK MY DOOR DOWN NOW. THANK YOU.

You are aware that the NSA doesn't kick down anyone's door, and that any SIGINT intercepts are accompanied with a message that they can't be used in criminal prosecution, right?

Well they don't kick down doors, but they have picked plenty of locks. You probably don't need to worry about the Special Collection Service [0] though, unless you live in some kind of communications facility. The NSA's crypto programs are well known, but one area that gets very little attention is the part of the agency full of military personnel on loan from their parent services. Those people don't spend their day analyzing cryptographic functions.

[0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special_Collection_Service

Did not know that.

Would not be surprised if some people ignore this.

So does the "clear web"...

Fair enough.