Turning to the dark side for shady dealings
POLICE are investigating whether Saint Stephens students used the so-called ‘dark web’ to buy the drugs which sparked the overdose crisis.
Technology experts say young people are increasingly turning to a series of underground websites, some of which are known as ‘the eBay of drugs’ to obtain the illicit substances, which can be accessed and bought in seconds anonymously. Thursday, February 22, 2018
Police investigating the mass drug overdose at Saint Stephens have confirmed they are looking into what connections the shocking incident had to the dark web.
Detective Senior Sergeant Greg Aubort said the computers of students involved would be searched.
“It’s important to understand ... where this generation is moving to obtain drugs like that and the motivation for them,” he said.
“We look at all those things. The existence of the dark web is known. I won’t comment any further than that.”
The dark web is the name for websites and pages which cannot be found through search engines and requires special software and passwords to access.
Illegal drugs, pornography and even guns have been shared and sold on these pages.
These services are often paid for using crypto currency such as bitcoin.
The selling of illegal drugs in dark web markets has grown dramatically in recent years.
A 2016 report by the Global Drug Survey found that the number of purchases has grown from 4.5 per cent to 6.7 per cent in just a year.
Of those people, 9.3 per cent of dark net users had bought drugs at some point.”
Among the most prominent marketplaces was Silkroad, an underground marketplace which marketed itself as “the eBay of drugs”.
Technology adviser Rob Livingstone said the dark web made it easier than ever to commit criminal acts with impunity. “The dark web is a place where your existence cannot be readily identified and you leave no digital footprint,” he said.
QUT Associate Professor Nicholas Suzor said it was easier than ever for young people to use the dark web.
“It is getting easier every day and the use of user-friendly clients such as the Tor browser allows people to get to these hidden sites,” he said. “These websites can operate as a marketplace for illicit substances and services.”