Private network where connections are made only between trusted peers
This article is about network technology. For other uses, see
Darknet (disambiguation). For websites that exist on top of this technology, see
dark web.
The term "darknet" was popularized by major news outlets and was associated with
Tor Onion services when the infamous drug bazaar
Silk Road used it,[5] despite the terminology being unofficial. Technology such as
Tor,
I2P, and
Freenet are intended to defend digital rights by providing security, anonymity, or censorship resistance and are used for both illegal and legitimate reasons. Anonymous communication between
whistle-blowers, activists, journalists and news organisations is also facilitated by darknets through use of applications such as
SecureDrop.[6]
Terminology
The term originally described computers on
ARPANET that were hidden, programmed to receive messages but not respond to or acknowledge anything, thus remaining invisible and in the dark.[7]
The term "darknet" is often used
interchangeably with "
dark web" because of the quantity of
hidden services on
Tor's darknet. Additionally, the term is often inaccurately used interchangeably with the
deep web because of Tor's history as a platform that could not be search-indexed. Mixing uses of both these terms has been described as inaccurate, with some commentators recommending the terms be used in distinct fashions.[11][12][13]
Origins
"Darknet" was coined in the 1970s to designate networks isolated from
ARPANET (the government-founded military/academical network which evolved into the
Internet), for security purposes.[7] Darknet addresses could receive data from ARPANET but did not appear in the network lists and would not answer
pings or other inquiries.
The term gained public acceptance following publication of "The Darknet and the Future of
Content Distribution", a 2002 paper by
Peter Biddle, Paul England, Marcus Peinado, and Bryan Willman, four employees of
Microsoft who argued the presence of the darknet was the primary hindrance to the development of workable
digital rights management (DRM) technologies and made
copyright infringement inevitable.[14] This paper described "darknet" more generally as any type of parallel network that is encrypted or requires a specific protocol to allow a user to connect to it.[1]
All darknets require specific software installed or network configurations made to access them, such as
Tor, which can be accessed via a customized browser from
Vidalia (aka the Tor browser bundle), or alternatively via a
proxy configured to perform the same function.
Active
Tor is the most popular instance of a darknet,[19] and it is often mistakenly thought to be the only online tool that facilitates access to darknets.
Alphabetical list:
anoNet is a decentralized friend-to-friend network built using
VPN and software
BGP routers.
I2P (Invisible Internet Project) is an
overlay proxy network that features hidden services called "
Eepsites".
IPFS has a browser extension that may backup popular webpages.
RetroShare is a
friend-to-friend messenger communication and file transfer platform. It may be used as a darknet if
DHT and Discovery features are disabled.
Riffle is a government, client-server darknet system that simultaneously provides secure anonymity (as long as at least one server remains uncompromised), efficient computation, and minimal bandwidth burden.[22][23]
Secure Scuttlebutt is a peer-to peer communication protocol, mesh network, and self-hosted social media ecosystem
Syndie is
software used to publish
distributed forums over the anonymous networks of I2P, Tor and Freenet.
^Wood, Jessica (July 2010) [1 January 2010, the majority was completed by the original date].
"The Darknet: A Digital Copyright Revolution". Richmond Journal of Law & Technology. 16 (4): 14.
^Mansfield-Devine, Steve (1 December 2009). "Darknets". Computer Fraud & Security. 2009 (12): 4–6.
doi:
10.1016/S1361-3723(09)70150-2.
^Pradhan, Sayam (2020). "Anonymous". The Darkest Web: The Dark Side of the Internet. India. p. 9.
ISBN9798561755668.{{
cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (
link)
^Martin, James (2014). Drugs on the Dark Net: How Cryptomarkets are Transforming the Global Trade in Illicit Drugs. New York: Palgrave Macmillan. p. 2.
ISBN9781349485666.
^Press Foundation, Freedom of the.
"SecureDrop". github. Freedom of the Press Foundation. Retrieved 28 January 2019.