The Deep Web and Criminality

Why we chose the Deep Web as our topic?

• It's an incredibly unknown portion of the internet
• We each found an aspect that appealed to us about the Deep Web

Max- Criminality
Jasmine- Music Piracy
Hillary- Real World Stories

What is the Deep Web?

• The deep web is the vast content of the internet that is not indexed by standard search engines and consists of the following content types
• Dynamic Content-Which is content that unlike HTML can change text and image in real time
• Unlinked Content- Which is the content that is not linked to by other pages and is often missed by search engines
• Private Web- That requires registration and login

Criminal Enterprise on the Deep Web

• June 2011's Gawker article on the silk road brought public attention to deep web criminality as well as government action to stop these marketplaces
• Why the deep web? Anonymity!
• The stock, the interface and the access
• The Rise and Fall of Silk Road by Joshua Bearman writing for Wired.

Music Piracy

• James Armstrong from global news stated that it has recently been found out that these letters being sent out don't have much truth to them and it is a tactic used by copyright owners to scare people. If someone were to be sued, it would be a civil case and not a criminal one as stated in the letters.

Real World Stories

• Where do privacy-rights advocates, drug buyers and sellers, and teenagers cross paths?
• What fallout and discussions result as the digital underworld meets the surface world?
• We see the discussion in New York Times articles about Ulbricht's trial; Daily Dot and Huffington Post stories about teens' Tumblr posts; (DARPA's Memex news); and Carrie James' Disconnected about ethics in a digital world.

Challenges & Rewards

• Working with audio is difficult.
• It's challenging to meet and present as a group, because we must coordinate work schedules and travel between different cities.
• Rewards: Like with other creations, it's neat to have a product you can look to later and, for the most part, smile because it's done, it's lasting, and you're proud of it. You can put it in your resume now.

Why this topic matters?

• With the revelation of the NSA's mass collection of meta-data, concerns revolving around privacy are current topics of contention and debate. The deep web provides a layer of privacy and anonymity in an era where the desire to have that protection is considered a fever dream and with the Supreme Court ruling that the mass collection of meta-data was illegal, having an option like Tor and the deep web that is easily accessible is more important than ever.

What to expect in the future?

• What our government hasn't kept up to date with has been cyber crime. And that's the area where sites like the silk road and black market reloaded thrive. What we can expect is either an increase in the staffing and training of government agents and employs in tracking and curbing cyber crime or the continued deep web black market. What's certain is that this stalemate won't change without advancing our ability to combat crime in a digital space

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