What the f*ck is the Dark Web, and how does it even work? Whether it's from dodgy acronym-titled crime shows to news stories designed to terrify you down to your socks we've all heard about sites like Silk Road and the ways criminals use cryptocurrency online. But did you know that among the various shady corners of the dark web you can also find portals to the BBC and Facebook? The thing is even the way the everyday internet works is a mystery to us and its darkest corners are, of course, more deeply shrouded. So, let's go on a journey from the birth of the Net through the strangest dark services - need a hitman to bump off your superfluous...er...beloved spouse? - to the surprisingly positive uses of dark technology, including dodging the watchful eye of oppressive censors. Over half of us can't remember a time before the internet - and for the rest it's increasingly difficult to imagine life without the damn thing! It's about time we understood more about it and we can start with the question: What The Fuck is The Dark Web?

An exploration of the Dark Web—websites accessible only with special routing software—that examines the history of three anonymizing networks, Freenet, Tor, and I2P. The term “Dark Web” conjures up drug markets, unregulated gun sales, stolen credit cards. But, as Robert Gehl points out in Weaving the Dark Web, for each of these illegitimate uses, there are other, legitimate ones: the New York Times's anonymous whistleblowing system, for example, and the use of encryption by political dissidents. Defining the Dark Web straightforwardly as websites that can be accessed only with special routing software, and noting the frequent use of “legitimate” and its variations by users, journalists, and law enforcement to describe Dark Web practices (judging them “legit” or “sh!t”), Gehl uses the concept of legitimacy as a window into the Dark Web. He does so by examining the history of three Dark Web systems: Freenet, Tor, and I2P. Gehl presents three distinct meanings of legitimate: legitimate force, or the state's claim to a monopoly on violence; organizational propriety; and authenticity. He explores how Freenet, Tor, and I2P grappled with these different meanings, and then discusses each form of legitimacy in detail by examining Dark Web markets, search engines, and social networking sites. Finally, taking a broader view of the Dark Web, Gehl argues for the value of anonymous political speech in a time of ubiquitous surveillance. If we shut down the Dark Web, he argues, we lose a valuable channel for dissent.

As society continues to rely heavily on technological tools for facilitating business, e-commerce, banking, and communication, among other applications, there has been a significant rise in criminals seeking to exploit these tools for their nefarious gain. Countries all over the world are seeing substantial increases in identity theft and cyberattacks, as well as illicit transactions, including drug trafficking and human trafficking, being made through the dark web internet. Sex offenders and murderers explore unconventional methods of finding and contacting their victims through Facebook, Instagram, popular dating sites, etc., while pedophiles rely on these channels to obtain information and photographs of children, which are shared on hidden community sites. As criminals continue to harness technological advancements that are outpacing legal and ethical standards, law enforcement and government officials are faced with the challenge of devising new and alternative strategies to identify and apprehend criminals to preserve the safety of society. The Encyclopedia of Criminal Activities and the Deep Web is a three-volume set that includes comprehensive articles covering multidisciplinary research and expert insights provided by hundreds of leading researchers from 30 countries including the United States, the United Kingdom, Australia, New Zealand, Germany, Finland, South Korea, Malaysia, and more. This comprehensive encyclopedia provides the most diverse findings and new methodologies for monitoring and regulating the use of online tools as well as hidden areas of the internet, including the deep and dark web. Highlighting a wide range of topics such as cyberbullying, online hate speech, and hacktivism, this book will offer strategies for the prediction and prevention of online criminal activity and examine methods for safeguarding internet users and their data from being tracked or stalked. Due to the techniques and extensive knowledge discussed in this publication it is an invaluable addition for academic and corporate libraries as well as a critical resource for policy makers, law enforcement officials, forensic scientists, criminologists, sociologists, victim advocates, cybersecurity analysts, lawmakers, government officials, industry professionals, academicians, researchers, and students within this field of study.

In the digital era, the Internet has evolved into a ubiquitous aspect of modern society. With the prominence of the Dark Web, understanding the components of the Internet and its available content has become increasingly imperative. The Dark Web: Breakthroughs in Research and Practice is an innovative reference source for the latest scholarly material on the capabilities, trends, and developments surrounding the secrecy of the Dark Web. Highlighting a broad range of perspectives on topics such as cyber crime, online behavior, and hacking, this book is an ideal resource for researchers, academics, graduate students, and professionals interested in the Dark Web.

What the f*ck is the Cloud, and how does it even work? Ah, The Cloud. It's such a useful bit of tech jargon isn't it? The kind that's casually thrown around in work meetings by bosses who (kind of) understand and maybe even at the nerdier type of dinner or drinks parties. People joke about the cloud while others take it for granted and some worry about this mysterious entity where all of our data is stored, accessible at the touch of a screen from anywhere on Earth. But what even is the cloud, and for that matter, where is the cloud? Join us on a journey from the very first iterations of the internet that we know and (sometimes) love, all the way through thorny issues of data collection and storage (weren't we all fooled by the 'ten years on' social media trend, even as we rely on cloud-stored photos of cats to cheer us up?) and discover the mysterious place where The Cloud ominously hovers.

Data stealing is a major concern on the internet as hackers and criminals have begun using simple tricks to hack social networks and violate privacy. Cyber-attack methods are progressively modern, and obstructing the attack is increasingly troublesome, regardless of whether countermeasures are taken. The Dark Web especially presents challenges to information privacy and security due to anonymous behaviors and the unavailability of data. To better understand and prevent cyberattacks, it is vital to have a forecast of cyberattacks, proper safety measures, and viable use of cyber-intelligence that empowers these activities. Dark Web Pattern Recognition and Crime Analysis Using Machine Intelligence discusses cyberattacks, security, and safety measures to protect data and presents the shortcomings faced by researchers and practitioners due to the unavailability of information about the Dark Web. Attacker techniques in these Dark Web environments are highlighted, along with intrusion detection practices and crawling of hidden content. Covering a range of topics such as malware and fog computing, this reference work is ideal for researchers, academicians, practitioners, industry professionals, computer scientists, scholars, instructors, and students.

The Dark Web is a known hub that hosts myriad illegal activities behind the veil of anonymity for its users. For years now, law enforcement has been struggling to track these illicit activities and put them to an end. However, the depth and anonymity of the Dark Web has made these efforts difficult, and as cyber criminals have more advanced technologies available to them, the struggle appears to only have the potential to worsen. Law enforcement and government organizations also have emerging technologies on their side, however. It is essential for these organizations to stay up to date on these emerging technologies, such as computational intelligence, in order to put a stop to the illicit activities and behaviors presented in the Dark Web. Using Computational Intelligence for the Dark Web and Illicit Behavior Detection presents the emerging technologies and applications of computational intelligence for the law enforcement of the Dark Web. It features analysis into cybercrime data, examples of the application of computational intelligence in the Dark Web, and provides future opportunities for growth in this field. Covering topics such as cyber threat detection, crime prediction, and keyword extraction, this premier reference source is an essential resource for government organizations, law enforcement agencies, non-profit organizations, politicians, computer scientists, researchers, students, and academicians.