what is this "deep web" thing im hearing all about?

So, what is it? What is it for and for who?

www.internettutorials.net...

this should help you understand the meaning...

reply to post by Frankenchrist


also known as the dark web. Basically, the only reason you can get to a website is through DNS servers. These DNS servers translate "google.com" to the ip address of the actual site, letting you access it.

Anything listed via traditional DNS servers shows up in web searches and such.

the "dark web" or "deep net" is merely a name given to the sites that aren't easily accessible. They used "rogue" or "pirate" DNS, basically DNS servers run by people who don't think sites should be censored.

If you are a hacktivist group and you are recruiting, showing up in web searches and web crawlers is a death sentence. By unlisting from DNS and using alternate DNS servers, you can still be reachable, just not to the "masses".

currently there is a war against file sharing. One of the steps they are attempting to take is to force ISPs to filter their DNS results, not allowing you to access certain sites, piratebay would be a name people are familiar with. Basically this step means that, without configuring a manual dns server for your computer/network that site will simply not exist for you.

BUT, if you configure your network to ignore the DNS provided by your ISP, and use a server the site you want is listed on, you can get to it fine.

It is also possible to configure your network to accept the ISP dns AND another one specified by you, I'm not sure which would take priority as I haven't bothered with it.

there is working being done, via the bittorrent technology, to actually create a decentralized DNS service that uses other peers to propagate, much like "DHT" in bit torrent clients. This means, beyond being a "dark net" is basically impossible to take down as all the peers in the swarm provide the DNS service, not just a single server.

Potentially this is ground breaking as sharing the DNS info between peers, takes the load off the DNS server, and since these peers are using torrent technology, decreases the outbound traffic, while increasing the internal traffic.

This, if implemented correctly, would allow for faster DNS results, faster DNS change propagation (not all DNS servers update immediately and sometimes that means entire countries can't access a site until they update), and a free, open internet that can not be stopped without taking the entire thing down and rebuilding from step 1.

i remember when i first started using the net, back in the good old days before google took over when i actually had a notebook with websites in it because they wouldn't come up in search sites. I felt so clever having this list of web sites for all sorts of random stuff that i knew none of the masses would have any idea how to find.

in todays day and age this is a blessing in disguise, to not come up on search engines is a pretty tough thing todo now adays and is akin to being an "underground rebel movement"

i still have that notebook and some of the sites are still actually active, this is some 15 odd years ago probally even more, back when 56k dilaup was fast lol.

reply to post by rayuki


I remember Web Crawler.