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Peeling Back the Layers: A Beginner’s Guide to Navigating the World of Tor and .onion Websites
The dark web is a part of the internet that is not indexed by search engines and can only be accessed by using special software, such as Tor. It is often associated with illegal activities, such as the sale of drugs, weapons, and stolen credit card information, as well as the hiring of hitmen and other illegal services. However, the dark web also has legitimate uses, such as providing a way for journalists and activists to communicate and share information securely.
The dark web is only accessible using special software, such as Tor, which routes your internet traffic through a network of volunteer-operated servers in order to conceal your identity and location. Websites on the dark web have unique addresses that end in “.onion” and can only be accessed through the Tor network.
The “.onion” suffix is used specifically for dark web websites that can be accessed using the Tor network, but not all dark web websites use this suffix. There are other dark web websites that may not use the “.onion” suffix and can only be accessed through other methods such as I2P and Freenet. The dark web is not indexed by search engines, so it’s not easy to find these websites unless you know the specific URL or have a direct link to it.
Welcome to the wacky world of Tor. Before we dive into the nitty-gritty of how to set up your own .onion website, let’s take a moment to appreciate the history of this revolutionary technology.
You may be wondering, who could have possibly come up with such a strange idea? Well, let me introduce you to the masterminds behind it all: Paul Syverson, Michael G. Reed, and David Goldschlag. These three brilliant (and possibly a little eccentric) individuals were working for the U.S. Navy in the 1990s, when they came up with the idea for Tor. Their goal? To create a way for Navy personnel to communicate online without being tracked by pesky foreign governments.
But as they say, the road to hell is paved with good intentions. Little did they know, their creation would eventually be used for all sorts of nefarious activities, from buying drugs on the dark web to planning protests in authoritarian countries. But hey, that’s just the price of progress, right?
