Huge raid to shut down 400-plus dark net sites

[Eugene]

Source: BBC

7 November 2014 Last updated at 11:37 GMT

Huge raid to shut down 400-plus dark net sites

By Jane Wakefield
Technology reporter

Silk Road 2.0 and 400 other sites operating on the Tor network - a part of the internet unreachable via traditional search engines - have been shut down.

The joint operation between 16 European countries and the US saw 17 arrests.

Tor is home to thousands of illegal marketplaces, trading in drugs, child abuse images as well as sites for extremist groups.

Experts believe the shutdown represents a breakthrough for fighting cybercrime.

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Read more: http://www.bbc.com/news/technology-29950946

[Erich Bloodaxe BSN]

1. Wait, what? From the article:

The so-called deep web - the anonymous part of the internet - is estimated to be anything up to 500 times the size of the surface web.

That can't mean what I think it seems to be saying. Sure the 'hidden internet' cannot possibly be that huge. Am I the only one not using the 'deep web'? I can't even believe it's anywhere near as large as the regular internet.

[bemildred]

2. Factually, it is bizarre babble, "500 times".

But this is obviously a PR exercise anyhow.

[CJCRANE]

4. It makes you wonder

what exactly is going on in the dark web.

Maybe it's like dark matter and dark money.

[bemildred]

5. "You don't know the power of the dark side, Luke."

http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-jho4EDP2IrU/T6xzHecRx4I/AAAAAAAABHM/e2E2meDvh60/s1600/vader+luke.jpg

[JustAnotherGen]

6. Have you ever used

A hide my IP service?

[Erich Bloodaxe BSN]

8. Nope.

No Tor, no 'Hide my IP', no proxies. And, in fact, I have a fixed IP, with my own servers up on it, and registered domains that go right to it. So there isn't even a need to ask my ISP for info about who's at that address. It's right out there in public via lookups at places like register.com.

[geek tragedy]

7. it just means they don't pop up in google or bing searches

you don't find them unless you know about them first.

sites can block google etc.

note this talks about urls, not traffic/volume of users

[Erich Bloodaxe BSN]

9. Ahhhhh. That makes a lot more sense.

I know that search engines like to funnel you to specific places.

[geek tragedy]

10. these have certain software and other features to prevent

google from detecting them, make it hard to trace IPs, etc.

It's something of a conundrum, because the same tools that allow law enforcement to crack down on the real horrors online can also be abused. Conversely, tools that protect the privacy of citizens also can be used to facilitate child abuse etc.

[Jester Messiah]

12. They must be using their "Drug Street Value" calculator.

Though it is entirely possible for alternate internets to be created. An internet is just a network of networks. It actually gives me a giggle that Dubya was unintentionally correct when he said "The Internets."

[hobbit709]

3. And by next week there'll be 500 to replace them.

[justice1]

11. They shut down silk road 2.0, but they don't go after the banks that launder drug money.

[seaglass]

13. Fascinating. Never heard of this before. Well, heard of Tor but didn't know what it was about. n/t

[Eleanors38]

14. Wasn't Tor some Norse god?