the.com/dark web
the internet's basement — reachable, rentable, and rarely as scary as the news implies.
means a layer of the internet not indexed by search engines and only accessible through special software like Tor, used for anything from anonymity to crime.
from grew out of Tor, a US Naval Research Lab project from the mid-1990s meant to protect government communications; the onion-routing tech leaked into public use and picked up a reputation.
size mythfar smaller than the deep web it hides inside
onion routingtraffic bounces through layers like an actual onion
legit usersjournalists and dissidents use it to dodge censorship
marketplace erasilk road made it famous, then infamous, in 2011