Page 187 - Reclaim YOUR DIGITAL GOLD (without audio)

Web 1.0 - 3.0 and the dark Web

When using the Tor browser, searches and messages do
not arrive at their final destination in the same way that
they were sent. They are instead transmitted by means
of “nodes,” which are other computers that are operated
by Tor users. Following the removal of one layer of
encryption at each node in the chain, the message is then
passed on to the subsequent node in the chain. Every
node in the chain is aware of the identity of the node
that came before it and the node that comes after it, but
they are unaware of the identities of the nodes that are
further along or further before. As a result, it is extremely
challenging to follow the path of a message throughout
its entire journey, let alone determine where it originated
or who sent it.

WHEN AND WHY EXACTLY DID THE DARK
WEB COME INTO EXISTENCE?

The release of Freenet in the year 2000 is credited
with marking the beginning of the dark web. Freenet
was the thesis project of Ian Clarke, a student at the
University of Edinburgh. Clarke’s goal was to develop
an anonymous “Distributed Decentralized Information
Storage and Retrieval System.” The objective of Clarke’s
project was to develop a novel approach to anonymous
online communication and file sharing. This groundwork
served as the foundation for the Tor Project, which was
initially released in 2002 with the subsequent release of
a browser in 2008. Tor enabled users to surf the Internet
in complete anonymity, including website that were
previously considered inaccessible as part of the dark
web.

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