Hidden in plain sight: Inside the secret communities of the dark web - opinion

The Jerusalem Post ^ | MAY 3, 2025 | David Ben-Basat

[Openurmind]

“Id like to know how to navigate it.”

The “Dark Web”?

Just get the TOR Browser and in the network are “directories” with different server addresses depending on topic. Believe it or not there are even Christian groups who use the TOR onion network... But here is the funny thing folks do not realize. The underground TOR network is now more censored than the normal net. They are starting to block all the servers that have extremely bad content. Truth is stranger than fiction sometimes...

https://www.torproject.org/download/

[goodnesswins]

Interesting, thanks

[Openurmind]

My privilege... As a Developer I really want to dispel the misconceptions and myths about how it really works. The reason why is because in the near future we may have to go underground in the Deep Web with secure apps to dodge all the government surveillance. While the Dark Web has it’s evil Taboos, the Deep Web is just a wide open ocean to be used for anything including very secure connections. And in this open ocean we can build our own islands and boats to get back and forth between these islands and there are no controls over it. You can literally make your own alternative internet if you like. And there are already quite a few protocols designed that allow you to do this.

You might also find this interesting... Here is one called the “Gemini” protocol. It uses a unique desktop client in place of a browser. And all the servers in the network are self hosted by members of the network. It is reminiscent of the old days of usenet and dial up servers. It is it’s own very secure alternative internet network that utilizes the “Deep” Web not “Dark” Web.

https://opensource.com/article/20/10/gemini-internet-protocol

And like the early days if is simple and basic without flare. Just simple small lightweight web pages of all sorts. It requires a desktop client which replaces a formal browser to access the alternate internet. But here is a “portal” site from the HTTP/WWW protocol that will allow you to go see what it looks like inside the Gemini network.

Proxy Portal site:

https://www.obsessivefacts.com/gemini-proxy

All you have to do is clear the URL field and cop & paste some of these URLs below that will forward to sites in the network. It is pretty interesting... :)

Main Gemini Forum:

gemini://bbs.geminispace.org/

New posts from across Gemini:

gemini://skyjake.fi/~Cosmos/

Directory of some sites (some abandoned):

gemini://gemini.circumlunar.space/capcom/feeds.txt

[E. Pluribus Unum]

That is extremely interesting. I am going to have to learn more about it now that I know it exists.

[E. Pluribus Unum]

Human trafficking, pornography, gore, and counterfeit goods have found a home on the dark web

Sort of like they can be found in the non-digital world

[Openurmind]

Yes, there are some pretty cool off grid tools that utilize the Deep Web.

There is Zeronet that not only gives you a desktop client/browser but it gives you a personal server and you can “clone” existing servers with a couple clicks and load the pages with your own content. It is also encrypted P2P and uses blockchain protocols.

https://zeronet.io/

One my friends and I have been using for several years now is called QTox. It is a chat/video/phone/file sharing app that is secure and uses the Deep Web. (this one is currently stable and works well as it is but has been abandoned, it needs some volunteer love.)

https://qtox.github.io/

The newest one that I have been playing with recently is pretty cool H/T to Pollard., is a “Wrapper” protocol that can be used for the net, HAM Radio, Meshnets, RNode, and any communication carrier you want and it is called Reticulum.

https://reticulum.network/

https://unsigned.io/index.html

There are quite a few decentralized P2P off grid protocols out there but these are the best I have played with. I really like the Gemini protocol. All one has to do in order to create their own private network is reassign it a new unique common unused port and create a custom URL scheme. Just change the “gemini://” to something else unique. But it is actually not new, it is based on the old “Gopher” protocol and they just improved it. “Lagrange” is the best local client for Gemini. :)

https://github.com/skyjake/lagrange

I hope it gets your interest, because I have been working with these underground protocols for a while now. We are most likely going to need them soon. So more interest is better going forward. Right now I am throwing together a custom Linux Distro that will have all these offgrid tools already installed and configured and will run everything from off a stick in RAM. Just boot into it and be in another whole secure world underground and alternet... :)

[Scrambler Bob]

The only thing sinister about the “Dark Web” is the name.
= = =

Well, “dark” implies racist stuff.

So, we are all ‘racists’.

[Openurmind]

“Sort of like they can be found in the non-digital world.”

Yeah, the TOR onion network is the wild west. Anything goes. But like you point out, it is in no way representative of the rest of the Deep web. The rest of that ocean, the larger part of the web, is what you make of it apps and clients as you like. It is all about the porting and addressing. Businesses and Corporations do it all the time to build private secure global networks.

[E. Pluribus Unum]

I like the idea of a parallel interwebs that they can’t control. Same reason I like Bitcoin

I am very interested in your Linux distro if you need any beta testers.

[Openurmind]

“I like the idea of a parallel interwebs that they can’t control. Same reason I like Bitcoin

I am very interested in your Linux distro if you need any beta testers.”

That is fantastic! Absolutely, I am going to share freely with everyone who wants it and everyone can contribute to the opensource code if they would like to improve it. We are going to need something like this soon if we value our privacy and dignity. Something easy for everyone to use and claim some of that back.

For about ten years now I have been researching and playing with every underground utility I could find because like you I saw the writing on the wall. I saw back then that they were going to ruin the normal internet with censoring, privacy violations, and overbearing commercialism. And now here we are.

Google sure dominated and ruined it didn’t they? Now we are blackmailed into kissing TLD regulatory agencies just because of Google. It all started with Google’s search and indexing. Now we have to go through ICANN and registrars and authorities to even host a personal site in the Top Level Domain. Well in the Deep Web we do not, no regulations or domain names or none of that mess controlled by Google. Who really cares if it gets indexed for searching or not, it will spread by word of mouth.

Ironically though, Gemini does indeed have it’s own “in network” search and indexing. :)

What matters is that folks can communicate and share without the whole corrupt greedy mess they now call the internet. Time for an alternate net and it is actually pretty easy to do now with these local desktop tools. Consider this... Even just a laptop will perform 100 times better as a server than the personal old school dialup BBS servers did back in the day... Just keep it light and simple...

I’ll update as soon as it comes together. :)