DeCaf THE GOOD AND BAD OF THE DEEP DARK NET

DECCAN CHRONICLE networks, including Facebook, to host versions of themselves on the dark web.

“Many go to the dark web just to play chess,” Rana says.

Journalist Jamie Bartlett, author of the book The Dark Net, said in a TEDTalk that the future of the Internet may involve a larger share for the dark web because of the concerns about privacy and security that people feel while surfing the normal web. “The dark net is no longer a den for dealers and a hideout for whistleblowers, it’s already going mainstream,” he says.

The Tor browser, which provides access to sites on the dark web, is now mainly being used by TUESDAY | 14 NOVEMBER 2017 | HYDERABAD people to get on to Facebook without the fear of someone snooping on their data, according to Bartlett.

So though the dark web allows criminals to sell illegal things online and host child pornography with impunity, it also allows people to spread awareness and exercise free speech, even if they live in a dictatorship. Put simply, the dark web is both bad and good; it is both a treacherous black hole and a beacon of hope for a more free society. In the end, it comes down to the centuries-old debate about free society versus regulated society. Even as technology surges ahead at breakneck speed, the core questions and debates remain the same.