The last two decades has seen the rise of the new head power
in the world, the Internet. The internet has become a part of everyday and is
used in an extreme measure. Today’s society has become so accustomed to the use
of the Internet that it’s horrible if a place doesn’t have Wi-Fi. The Internet
has become a place to socialize, shop, and kill boredom among millions. However
the Internet is not as simple as most the world perceives it as. The Internet
is like Space, it seems never ending and there and has many mysteries that
can’t be seen on the surface.
There are
places in the Internet not seen or know to a majority of users known as the Deep
Web. The Internet can be ever as bit dangerous as fascinating to anyone
accessing them. With the Internet becoming as large as it is, it was only a
matter of time before someone began to figure out loopholes. The Internet has
become a place for some to walk a fine line between what is legal and illegal.
Places such as The Pirate Bay and Silk Road have broke ground on this. These
are just two examples on how people have figured out a way to use the Internet
as a way to bring the Illegal to a market in a grey area legally. Using
loopholes in the foundation of the Internet, individuals have proceeded in
creating a way to almost be untraceable or walk the line of what can be done in
the eyes of the law.
Let’s take
Silk Road for example. Silk Road was a site in the Deep Web that began infamous
for being an online black market for selling of drugs and any other form or act
that would be certainly illegal in most of the world. The site was launched
back in 2011 by Ross William Ulbricht (former Penn State student),
better known as “Dread Pirate Roberts” to his online community. Here was
someone that was so smart they found a way to make the Internet work in a way
that illegal things can be bought or sold completely anonymous online. It took
until 2013 for the site to final come down, meaning that for well over a year
these transactions were going on anonymously and untraceable. Anything from
drugs to assassins (yes, assassins) could be bought or sold on this site.
The introduction
on online currency like Bitcoin has contributed to this rise as well. The
ability to have this currency online is again in a grey area at the current
time. With the online community, anonymity has always been a big thing. With
Bitcoin, because it is an online currency there is a certain degree of anonymity
that comes with it. Pair this with the possibly untraceable transactions like
that of Silk Road and you create a cocktail for illegal activity to brew within
the never ending space that is the Internet.
Overall, the Internet can be fun, carefree
environment for everyone to enjoy. However under the gleaming surface that is
the Internet lays a darker place that is the Deep Web. The integration that we
have with the Internet is continuing to grow into our society. What is
happening outside our doors is merging with the online community in both good
ways and bad. What is illegal is beginning to become more and more
sophisticated at an alarming rate. With the grey area that the law may have
over online users, this society of illegal transactions will only continue to
grow and improve upon themselves.
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