Tor - Is the dark web really that dark?
When you hear the term the “dark web,” what are your initial thoughts? Like many people, do you immediately think drugs, weapons, porn, and anything else that has a negative connotation?
The official name for what is commonly referred to as the dark web is Tor. Tor is an anonymity network that allows its users to anonymously browse the internet. Despite its reputation for being a haven for illegal internet activity, it’s actually a very important tool for users all over the world. Ranging from privacy activists to citizens of censorship regimes, Tor is critical to many people safely connecting to the internet.
User anonymity is provided from a few key pieces of Tor’s design. When a user wishes to connect to a website through Tor, they just need to type in their desired website into the URL space of the Tor Browser, just as they would with any other browser like Chrome or Firefox. Now, instead of the user being directed to their website right away, their internet traffic is routed through a random series of hops known as relay. These random relays are computers all over the world volunteering to have Tor internet traffic run through them. In addition to this random routing scheme, the internet traffic is also encrypted multiple times. With these design choices, when the user is eventually connected to their website, the website only sees the last hop that the traffic passed through, not the user.
I, too, was of the majority of people who thought Tor was only used for criminals. Despite having two degrees in Computer Science, I was completely ignorant of how Tor works and what it is used for. It definitely does not help that when you Google “dark web”, the number of negative news pieces written is astronomical. While writing this piece, I had to go to the nineteenth search page of the Google News tab to even find an article that was overtly positive. All this is to say that I get it. It wasn’t until working on my master’s thesis that I had to dig deep and actually learn the ins and outs of Tor and what it is really used for.
Not only is Tor safe and legal to use and can be downloaded just like any other internet browser, but it is actually a vital tool for many users around the world, and the negative activity that occurs with it should not reflect it as a whole. Specifically, Tor is critical for journalists, political activists, and whistleblowers, as well as citizens and users living under censorship regimes.
First, Tor is popular amongst journalists, activists, and whistleblowers who wish to share information anonymously. Through SecureDrop, an online anonymous submission site only accessible through Tor, these communities are able to get information out without fear of being traced or persecuted. Dozens of well-known organizations support SecureDrop through Tor, such as The Guardian [1], ProPublica [4], The New York Times [3], and more. These organizations recognize that Tor is important for many people who may be reluctant to share information publicly.
Second, for people living under censorship regimes, Tor is one of the few ways people can still connect to the open internet unrestricted. to the official Tor statistics [5], more than 140,000 people in Russia connect to Tor. Iran accounts for more than 112,000 daily users. These are among the highest number of users of Tor daily, along with countries like the US, Germany, India, and more. Without Tor, many of these users would not be able to connect to the open internet, as the censorship practices of these countries are well-known.
Now, while Tor is used daily for safe and legal internet activities, it would be short-sighted to not acknowledge the unsafe and illegal activities that do occur. The nature of Tor—allowing for people to remain anonymous on the internet—opens the door for it to be abused by malicious people. However, while these activities do still occur, on average, only 6.7% of user activity on Tor is illegal [2]. Considering more than 2 million users access Tor daily, and this limited percentage of illegal activity, labeling Tor as a negative entity may not be as accurate as many think.
I know it’s hard to change your perspective on something when you’ve consistently been told the opposite. It certainly doesn’t help that the media exacerbates the narrative of the “dark web” being dangerous. But I encourage everyone to keep an open mind. Check out Tor’s mission statement. Because while you and I may be able to freely access the internet, others might not be as fortunate.
References
[1] Ball, J. (2014, June 5). Guardian launches SecureDrop system for whistleblowers to share files. The Guardian. https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2014/jun/05/guardian-launches-securedrop-whistleblowers-documents
[2] Jardine, E., Lindner, A. M., & Owenson, G. (2020). The potential harms of the Tor anonymity network cluster disproportionately in free countries. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 117(50), 31716–31721. https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2011893117
[3] The New York Times. (2016, December 14). Tips at the Times. The New York Times. https://www.nytimes.com/tips
[4] Tigas, M. (2016, January 13). A more secure and anonymous ProPublica using Tor Hidden Services. ProPublica. https://www.propublica.org/nerds/a-more-secure-and-anonymous-propublica-using-tor-hidden-services
[5] Welcome to tor metrics!. Tor Metrics. (2023). https://metrics.torproject.org/
