I’ve been reading a lot lately about the anonymous access to the internet and came across the topic of Tor browser. I have several raspberry pi’s, so I’m thinking of checking out some onions out of curiosity. I’m not interested in anything criminal like child pornography or illicit drug trade. Have anyone here been browsing the dark web? Are there some real interesting sites? I’ve heard there is some science portal(s) that has scientific research available that bi-passes the paywall, something I’m thinking of checking out during the next weekend. If you’ve been surfing that side of the internet, are there any interesting and safe websites that are worth visiting?
You need to be extremely careful going there since well over half the sites are involved in illegal practices. Half of those are probably set up by law enforcement to catch criminals. Regardless, the odds of having you computer logged and tracked, you can't hide it, is very likely whether you purchase anything or not. Just visiting a site with stolen credit cards or selling counterfeit money will get you in trouble not to mention all the illegal porn. And when they come knocking on your door, saying you got there on accident won't work since you purposefully need to try and access that stuff. You can't just accidentally bump into it.
And they didn't build that GIANT NSA facility out west for nothing. What does the NSA do," Electronically monitor foreign entities ONLY", (my emphasis on "only"), Uh huh, who really knows. The NSA makes the CIA look like blabber mouths.
I have no intention of buying anything and one of the reasons why I ask about where to go there because I don’t want to bump into something outrageous like child pornography - I know myself, if I bump into something like that I won’t ever go there again. I have my own kids and can’t stomach the idea that someone could abuse a child in such a way. I also have no interest in buying anything there. So, even if I come across a site that is involved in drug or weapons trade, I won’t be buying anything, therefore the government can’t accuse me of doing anything wrong just by looking at a site (again, unless it’s illegal porn which I have absolutely no interest in). I’m going to surf it with a separate machine, raspberry pi. I don’t think Linux is as vulnerable to viruses and malicious software as windows is, but because it’s a separate machine, wiping it is not difficult, not a problem, and that machine won’t have any of my personal sensitive information stored in its cache because the machine won’t be used for normal online shopping, web surfing, or reading emails. Tor is based on the idea of passing data through multiple points and encrypting data with each step, so each router that you pass through only knows how to go back one step. If you connect to VPN before starting Tor, then even your own ISP won’t know that you took a dive “underground”. Granted, CIA might own significant portion of these routers, so caution should still be exercised, but again, it’s not a crime to just look at something (unless it’s child porn) or read an article. So, have you ever been there? Are there any “points of interest” that are not related to real illegal activities? I know there are dumping grounds out there for sensitive leaks like WikiLeaks, and wonder if there are sites that have interesting info that is hard to find on the regular internet.
I received a credit warning saying my email was discovered on the dark web. I still have no clear idea what the dark web even is and I’ve never gone there or even know how to. I just changed my email and so far nothing bad has happened.
Its safe to browse dark web, but you need a bit of time investment to be fully anon. You can find troves of infos there but the communities are usually closed(invite based). I can't tell you about free scientific research because it's not on my interest. I usually browse and buy exploits or software needed for my various projects. There is a marketplace for really cool software, for anonymity, secure comms, building botnets, strong encryption(which is banned by US law)... Usually, all that is side laned by regular nontech or ignorant folks like privacy or true free speech, the dark web is home to. You can discuss anthropology without being banned for racism, something you cannot do here. The dark web is a lot freer than the clear web and mimicks human nature. AND, its not an AD platform.
If you need some advice on how to get started, some tips, some weird forums or places to buy software, PM me.
You won't stumble across anything bad on the dark web, you need to be connected to a network or given the link to a dark web site or you will never find it.... that's why its the dark web....eh a bit like zerolis' invitation
It doesn't work like that at all, it's not the regular web where you Google up websites and simply go there. It's more like being invited to a secret rave party you need a password to get in and they move around and disappear and reappear. Essentially you have to make contact with someone who has what you are interested in and tells you where to find the site but if you don't know then protocol it's probably law enforcement posing as what you want. That's why I said it's never an accident when people visit a site because it takes concerted effort to access one. It's only called the dark web because people have protections to make their sites harder to trace. But yes I've been there and nothing wrong with going there and hanging out on chat sites or meetup sites (that's how you meet people). Not until you start accessing their sites does it become risky and there is a lot of code you need to learn and all groups use something different. The more illegal they are the more hoops you have to jump through. For me I just wanted access to real executions for a research paper I was writing and it's mostly censored on the regular internet so I went there, asked around, and found a site specializing in real gore. Kind of disturbing to see what humans are capable of.
