Tor is a computer system which allows
people to talk in private online
Messages are encrypted as they bounce
around a computer network
Officials cannot see who is talking to
who or what is being said
It has been used by political activists
during the Arab uprisings
However criminals also use it to sell
drugs, guns and child porn
The proud sales blurb on the website leaves
no room for misinterpretation. 'Your No 1
source of illicit substances on the Web,' it
reads.
'Fast and stealthy shipping. A+++ quality and
perfect customer service. This is what
DrugMarket is famous for.'
Offering everything from LSD to cocaine,
heroin and ecstasy on pages laid out like those
on Amazon, DrugMarket's top seller today is
'100g High Quality Afghan Opium First Grade'
at $2,700 (£1,670).
You might think it foolish to advertise your
services as a drug dealer on the internet and,
usually, you'd be right. But this isn't the
World Wide Web; this is the 'Dark Net', a
cyber world where secrecy is guaranteed and
anything goes.
It is the internet's Wild West: a hidden
marketplace where drug dealers, gun runners,
assassins and paedophile pornographers can
peddle their wares with almost no chance of
being caught.
Earlier this week, Google and Microsoft
announced vital measures to prevent
paedophiles searching for images of child
abuse on the web.
The move was prompted by the murders of
12-year-old Tia Sharp and five-year-old April
Jones and was hailed by child protection
agencies and this newspaper.
Both Tia and April were killed by men whose
perverted interest in young girls was fuelled
by the pornographic websites they were able
to access all too readily via Google.
But the fight against such sick websites is not
over. Computer experts have warned that the
new measures would not stymie really
determined paedophiles, who would search
for images in the recesses of the Dark Net.
'Hard-core paedophiles don't go onto Google
to search for images,' said Jim Gamble, the
former head of the Child Exploitation and
Online Protection Centre. 'They go into the
dark corners of the internet.'
To understand what Mr Gamble means, it is
necessary to take a journey into the
underbelly of the web and onto sites that
never appear on Google or any other well-
known search engine.
This is because they are located on the Dark
Net (there are actually many of these
computer networks, but the term 'Dark Net'
has come to be used as a collective noun
along with 'Hidden Web' and 'Deep Web'). And
it enables anonymous encrypted
communications between individuals and
websites, ensuring total privacy.
The one most commonly used is known as
Tor, a system originally developed by the U.S.
Naval Research Laboratory more than a
decade ago and first called The Onion Router. 
people to talk in private online
Messages are encrypted as they bounce
around a computer network
Officials cannot see who is talking to
who or what is being said
It has been used by political activists
during the Arab uprisings
However criminals also use it to sell
drugs, guns and child porn
The proud sales blurb on the website leaves
no room for misinterpretation. 'Your No 1
source of illicit substances on the Web,' it
reads.
'Fast and stealthy shipping. A+++ quality and
perfect customer service. This is what
DrugMarket is famous for.'
Offering everything from LSD to cocaine,
heroin and ecstasy on pages laid out like those
on Amazon, DrugMarket's top seller today is
'100g High Quality Afghan Opium First Grade'
at $2,700 (£1,670).
You might think it foolish to advertise your
services as a drug dealer on the internet and,
usually, you'd be right. But this isn't the
World Wide Web; this is the 'Dark Net', a
cyber world where secrecy is guaranteed and
anything goes.
It is the internet's Wild West: a hidden
marketplace where drug dealers, gun runners,
assassins and paedophile pornographers can
peddle their wares with almost no chance of
being caught.
Earlier this week, Google and Microsoft
announced vital measures to prevent
paedophiles searching for images of child
abuse on the web.
The move was prompted by the murders of
12-year-old Tia Sharp and five-year-old April
Jones and was hailed by child protection
agencies and this newspaper.
Both Tia and April were killed by men whose
perverted interest in young girls was fuelled
by the pornographic websites they were able
to access all too readily via Google.
But the fight against such sick websites is not
over. Computer experts have warned that the
new measures would not stymie really
determined paedophiles, who would search
for images in the recesses of the Dark Net.
'Hard-core paedophiles don't go onto Google
to search for images,' said Jim Gamble, the
former head of the Child Exploitation and
Online Protection Centre. 'They go into the
dark corners of the internet.'
To understand what Mr Gamble means, it is
necessary to take a journey into the
underbelly of the web and onto sites that
never appear on Google or any other well-
known search engine.
This is because they are located on the Dark
Net (there are actually many of these
computer networks, but the term 'Dark Net'
has come to be used as a collective noun
along with 'Hidden Web' and 'Deep Web'). And
it enables anonymous encrypted
communications between individuals and
websites, ensuring total privacy.
The one most commonly used is known as
Tor, a system originally developed by the U.S.
Naval Research Laboratory more than a
decade ago and first called The Onion Router.
