Darknet Black Market and TOR

crystal at November 04,2014
Wow! I can't believe how easy crime is on the Internet!

at November 07,2014
Scary!

klevan at January 24,2015
It's interesting how many of the same tools that can provide freedom of speech and anonymity are also used for crime. Though it probably shouldn't be all that surprising as the video lightly touches on how anything that removes the ability to provide attribution opens the door for actions that may not be taken as lightly if they were to be judged by others. For instance if the person had to perform it with the account they shared with their mother. It seems like at present Tor has the corner market on 'darknet' browsing, though by it's very nature I would assume that alternatives would be somewhat difficult to find, at least the good ones. Though maybe not as the one site 'atlantis' which was shut down after the 'silkroad' bust though actually seems to target non-savvy consumers who just want access to illegal items such as drugs.

nbodyk at January 25,2015
It's not surprising that criminals have decided to take advantage of the anonymity of the 'darknet'. Criminals will always leverage a new way to get away with making money for very little effort on their part. I found this video very informative. I have heard of the darknet in various different TV shows, but never really gave it any thought to go and check it out. An interesting point was brought up, I thought the darknet was exclusively for criminal activity and I didn't realize that there are actually legal uses for sharing information and exercising freedom of speech. I suppose I should not be surprised that the darknet is used for selling drugs, hiring an assassin, or sharing child pornography. I'd be leery of the pirated content because who knows if the originator didn't hide malware in the content. You download and now they've taken over your computer and are stealing logons and passwords.

gmazur at January 28,2015
It is ironic that Tor, originally developed by the United States Navy to protect communications and intelligence information has evolved into one of the most popular tools used by criminals, terrorists, and nation state actors to subvert law enforcement, intelligence agencies, and the military services. This should be no surprise to anyone that the bad guys are just as good at using technology as the good guys, this just yet another chapter in the never ending saga of good versus evil. Nefarious actors will do shady stuff, and if they don’t want to get caught, they’ll figure out how to hide what they are doing, the Dark Net is just product of that. I cannot disagree with those who purport to use Tor to keep their private communications from the prying eyes of foreign and domestic intelligence agencies. Since the terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001, the USG essentially created a “surveillance state” by changing laws to make it easier to gather signals intelligence. Some would argue that they took that too far. That’s just USG laws, Internet traffic may pass through any number of nations, sometimes on purpose, what of their surveillance laws? Finally, what of all companies that collect information on users that visit their sites.