How Big Is The Internet

byLoes

13.2K followers

Updated 7 years ago

How big is the Internet?

1,3 billiard people are every day online to shop, to visit Social Media, to work or to game. The search engines as Google and Bing show just 1-5% of the actual web. You, as a user only have access to this part.

What is the deep web?

The other 95% - 99%, far out of reach for the average search engines, is known as the deep web. Many organizations, companies, and governments have huge web-based databases that can only be retrieved after authentication. Almost all military communication worldwide is going via the deep web.

A lot of websites on the deep web are only accessible through special browsers as TOR. On TOR they do not use IP numbers as identification, so, everyone acts anonymously. That makes the deep web very attractive for criminals. Here they can act and trade freely in drug and weapons but also pedophiles can act freely there.

Criminality blooms on the deep web

One of the most lucrative websites on the deep web was the Silk Road. A place to trade drugs and other illegal stuff. The website made $1,2 billiard profit in the first year. You could buy e.g. weed, crystal med, and cocaine, but also weapons of all kind. The FBI closed down the Silk Road website after a thorough research. A few hours later, a new website was online again, in order to meet the big demand of the illegal trade. Next, to the drugs, you can buy anything illegal. You can buy weapons ánd people. When you don't want to use the weapon yourself, you can buy yourself a hitman. The rules to hire a hitman are simple. No children below 16 and no top 10 politicians. Prices rise up to $200.000. Also, credit card data you can buy easily on the deep web.

The Dark Web

The Dark Web. A small and deeper part of the deep web is the dark web. Here are pedophiles active. They spread photos and videos of child porn around the dark web. This is a big problem. Research shows that 80% of the users of the dark web has some connection to child abuse. If a website is taken offline, there is in no-time a new website active. It's hard to find particular websites on the deep web because it's about 500 times bigger than the Internet we know.

DARPA, an institute of the United States Department of Defense responsible for the development of military technology, including the foundations for the Internet, GPS, and artificial intelligence, is working on a new search engine that can penetrate the dark webs of the deep web. They focus on the dark web, websites, and forums where criminal activities take place. The goal: To make the invisible visible.

Paradise for drugs and weapons
The dark web is famous for its growth in online marketplaces, where everything is traded from cannabis and cocaine to credit card data, fake passports, and weapons. In November 2014, the FBI launched a massive attack on online drug markets such as the Silk Road, BlueSky Marketplace and Cannabis Road. In doing so, they successfully achieved to get 30% of the number of marketplaces out of the air. The problem, however, is that it makes no difference.

The Deep Web

Not everything what happens on the deep web is illegal or negative. The network is used for military purposes, but also for civilian applications, such as protecting the privacy of dissidents. Some very legal companies use the deep web to test their beta versions. Journalists who work and people who live in censored countries can use the deep web to escape the censored channels to bring news out of the country and to get access to foreign news. For example, journalists could also guarantee their informants anonymity and security. However. the deep web stays a breeding nest of dangerous and illegal practice.

TOR - The Onion Router

Many browsers in the Deep Web can only be accessed by specific programs, such as TOR. This is a free open network that focuses on anonymous communication. Onion routing is a technology that was developed in 1995. Using the TOR network prevents others from finding your messages. So you can surf anonymously. This is possible because of the use of onion routers. These routers are computers that are located between the user and the recipient. As anonymous communication is so high at TOR, users' identities are difficult to detect, and that, obviously, is very attractive to criminals.

The internet is much bigger than we see

The 1% - 5% of the internet that we see is peanuts in relation to the total internet. Payments on the deep web are taking place with a digital currency. The estimated revenue on the deep web is 1 billion euros in bitcoins. But there are more digital currencies. So it's not all unthinkable that the 1 billion bitcoins also is only a few percent of the deep web because so many trades are untraceable.