Why You Should Never Visit The Dark Web

The dark web is a part of the internet that isn't easily accessed through traditional search engines like Google. It's notorious for being a place where vendors sell drugs, guns, and even hitmen — but that doesn't mean you should never visit it. See this article to learn why you shouldn't ever go there and how you can keep yourself safe if you do.

1. How to access the dark web

There are several ways you can gain access to the dark web, which can be used for both good and bad purposes, but most require you to use the Tor browser. The Tor browser is an internet browser that allows you to access the dark web anonymously. The best way to use Tor is by using a VPN. This allows you to tunnel your internet connections through a third-party server so that only people inside your household or network can see your internet usage.

​Still, if access to the dark web is something you want to keep an eye on, here’s how to find the best VPN.

In 2019, the European Union banned exchange platforms that provide cryptocurrency as a service to the unbanked because they are considered money transmission businesses.

However, there are still plenty of cryptocurrency exchanges you can use in the U.S., and some of them produce outstanding products. Most people go with Coinbase for all of their crypto purchases.

While there are plenty of different currencies to choose from, they all generally follow the same general rules about limiting themselves to a certain number of coins, issued by a cap rather than a supply limit.

Visit Coinbase and follow these simple steps:

Now, this isn’t 100% foolproof, nor will it be for every crypto-currency. However, it guarantees that any cryptocurrency you purchase will have somewhere to go. In the event you run out of money, you’ll have to get rid of the cryptocurrency to get rid of it.

Coinbase allows you to trade U.S. dollars and other common currencies for cryptocurrency. You can do this by visiting your account and clicking on the “Cash out” button in the bottom-left corner.

Additionally, Coinbase recently added the ability to deposit U.S. dollars directly to your cryptocurrency wallet.

This isn’t quite as simple as creating a wallet on your own computer or phone. However, it’s still easy enough to do.

Visit Coinbase and follow the steps for placing a cash deposit.

2. What's on the dark web?

This is an article I came across while perusing the dark web. It’s by an individual from India, and it’s fascinating. It takes you to several dark web marketplaces, such as a marketplace known as “Toro Market” where the author once purchase “Strange” mushrooms that made him feel like a “god.” This is followed by a list of alternative highlighters for the toro market that you can purchase.

“…Toro Market is a marketplace full of goods selling ‘strange’ shit online products, despite what people think online, they are genuine and as all products are, it is up to you to decide if it is trustworthy or not.”

The dark web is a conundrum. You might think that it’s known for crime, drugs, and psycho trafficking, but that isn’t the case. In fact, open-source research found that the dark web traffic has little to do with illegal activities and everything to do with information sharing and evaluation.

In 2021, the dark web will likely only increase as more businesses subscribe to Zoom, Signify, and Party chat integrations. The dark web is meeting a lot of users' needs right now for digital access — and that could serve as an indication of how the internet will change drastically in the coming decade.

3. Why shouldn't ever visit the dark web?

The dark web is a collection of websites that exist on what’s known as the deep web. The deep web is the collection of all the sites on the internet that aren’t searchable by Google or other search engines. The deep web contains every single site on the internet, but most of its content cannot be accessed by Google or other search engines. There’s a lot of controversy about the dark web and how you should be using it. While some sites are on the dark web because they have no legitimate business to sell, others have gotten into the dark web as a full escape from traditional prison life. Many have legitimate purposes, but what they all have in common is that it’s been incredibly difficult for companies and researchers to uncover their exact locations and locations of servers over the past few years because a lot of it is hidden with encryption. In 2018, The Times revealed how the sites were using Tor, a free privacy tool that makes web browsing much more difficult by bouncing your request around a network of computers and hiding it within a series of encrypted hops.

If you are interested in finding out where some dark websites that can get you connected to child pornography and other illicit products are located, the first search for their respective URL. Then, check the site’s HTTPS status to see if it’s up. You can usually find this information by checking the site’s Alexa Rank using some tools like WebpageFX or Alexa.

If it is up, then you can take the necessary precautionary measures to protect yourself. For this, I recommend using a browser extension like No Log Extension that tracks all the information about your website’s HTTPS status and asks you if you’d like to continue reading. Once the page loads, you can check the site’s URL again or find out where to get a VPN. Below, I’ll walk you through what I recommend to use to secure websites both on the deep web and on the browser extensions like No Log, and how to do it.

4. How to stay safe if you do want to visit it?

What is the dark web?

If you haven't heard of the dark web before, the first thing that probably matters is that the dark web is a collection of websites that no search engine — Google included — currently index. At the same time, because the sites on the web aren't truly indexed (as with the physical web), they carry shady connotations, too.

Dark web sites and transactions

Started in the 1990s, the dark web grew tremendously in the 2000s. It was particularly strong during the 2008 financial crisis and has continued to grow since. In 2015, analysts estimated that the digital underground made up 14% of all online sales.

There are many websites on the dark web, which — being hidden primarily between obscure layers of software and internet protocols — can provide a level of anonymity and reach unavailable through traditional search and social media. The degree of difficulty associated with navigating the dark web can create a feeling of urgency to find out more about the sites and stymie the black markets.

Do these sites exist on a normal web search?

Technically, yes. Not all of the sites in the SERPs of Google and other search engines include all of the titles and descriptions present on the dark web. Google refers to the dark web as our "unexploited" area, where the technological limitations of search and our inherent human swarms (some of the powerful and influential) mean no one has yet found a way to "crush the dark web." Still, the reach of the web's untapped content makes it plausible that some sites do exist completely above the search engine's radar.