Since then, it has enabled political movements, like the Arab Spring in 2012, and given a platform to whistleblowers, like Edward Snowden in 2013. NoDerog/iStock Unreleased/Getty Imagesĭark Web dilemma - Tor launched in 2002. Tor was created in 2002 to provide anonymity to internet browsers. Via these onion routes, users can either anonymously access the 'clear web,' (which contains sites already accessible via browsers like Chrome or Firefox) or sites hosted only on the Dark Web, which are otherwise inaccessible. And so Tor - 'the onion routing' - was born. As a result, a user's IP address - the unique string of digits which connect your personal device to your web traffic - cannot be tracked using the conventional ways of the web. It works by bouncing users' signals between different, disconnected network 'nodes,' and encrypting it along the way. In an effort to dodge tracking on the newly minted web, researchers working at MIT in the early 2000s designed a way to anonymize web browsing using a series of decentralized network points all hosted on volunteer computers. As long as the internet has existed, so computer scientists have wrung their hands over how to best police it. Hiding out - Internet privacy is a perennial problem. The findings were published Monday in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. This raises the question: should these networks exist at all?

They found roughly one in every 20 Tor users employed the network to view illicit or illegal content.īut behind these findings lurked an even more concerning discovery: people in countries with the most political freedoms are more likely to browse illicit content on the Dark Web than those in countries with fewer freedoms. In a new study, a team of researchers peel back the layers to reveal how Tor's users across the world browse the Dark Web. It's called 'dark' for a reason.īut to scientists, the activity on Tor is somewhat traceable. But the Dark Web is also where the online sale of firearms, drugs, and child abuse content typically takes place. One of the key parts of the Dark Web, the Tor anonymity network can grant users freedom from government censors and technology giants alike - a kind of Libertarian utopia. So dark, you may remain anonymous.Īnonymity is Tor's calling card.

One is littered with cookies, targeted adware, and other tracking devices.

Tor network statistics