Deep Web vs. Dark Web : Difference Between Deep Web & Dark Web

With the recent shutdown of the notorious Silk Road on the web, a lot more people have known about the deep web and the dark web than it was the case before. The closing of the web drug portal has led to a number of people trying to know how it was operating and how it was well hidden on the internet.

The internet is a very intriguing place. For once, it goes way deeper than one can imagine. At the last count, it comprised of over 600 million active websites that you can access easily via your devices. However, these websites form only the tip of iceberg that is the web. These websites are only those websites which are indexed by the search engines. What about those websites which aren’t indexed? They form the base of the deep web which is way bigger than what you can access nowadays.

Since most people haven’t heard of these terms – deep web and dark web before, they often get confuse between them and use them interchangeably. While dark web forms a smaller part of the deep web, these two are completely different identities on their own. Let us go and find out more about these two in detail below.

The Deep Web

All those deep web sites, databases, files and more which are not accessible by search engines such as Bing and Google form the part of the Deep web. Since these are not indexed by the search engines, they don’t appear on the web browser when you search for them. This is why a normal user doesn’t know about them.

However, knowingly or unknowingly, everyone has accessed the deep web once in their lifetime and probably do so on a regular basis daily. Let me tell you how. Your online transactions, messages you send on Twitter or Instagram, your emails, bank databases, hospital records – all these things are hidden or protected when you search for them but you can still access them if you have the authority. Such types of files and databases form the basis of the deep web.

The Deep web accounts for about 90% of the total web space and is usually made up of statistics and databases from government agencies and more. The Deep web is available for a reason and unlike what others say; browsing the deep web is perfectly legal and is very far away from illicit activity.

The Darker Part of the Internet

Now comes the part which is actually the place where a number of illicit activities take place on the internet. The Dark Web is not a separate entity on the web but forms a small, darker section of the deep web. However, unlike deep web, it is not accessible via your regular web browsers. You will need special Onion web browsers which will help you access the content on the dark web.

The next question arises – what is on the dark web? Mostly, the dark web consists of multiple websites which act as a marketplace for selling illegal products including drugs, weapons and hacked online credentials such as Bank details, credit/debit card details. Additionally, you can hire the services of assassins and killers on the dark web while you can easily get a number of hackers here who can practically hack into almost all websites across the world. With a number of such illicit activities taking place on the dark web, this area of the net is also known as the underbelly of the internet.

Another popular reason why dark web is famous is because a number of internet activists and journalists make use of this platform to remain hidden and anonymous to gather and provide information against corruption and other malpractices undertaken by the Government in the power. This allows such people to go around the censorship issues prevailing in the country and ensure that the truth reaches the public eyes at all cost.

One thing you should always keep in mind if you go browsing on the dark web is that while it is not illegal to access the dark web, you can find a number of websites on the dark web which offers illegal services. If found accessing them, you can find yourself in a lot of trouble.

The Final Say

The internet runs very deep into the darker side as you go deeper and deeper. While you can find a number of websites partaking in illegal activities on the dark web, you will also come across some of the very popular websites such as Facebook and more which don’t have anything illegal going on there.

Not everything on the internet is all bad in its essence. People even use the dark web to provide the truth as in case of whistleblowers. It all depends upon how a person chooses to use the web services to his needs.