Darknets, on the other hand, deliberately hide from the prying eyes of the searchable Web. Most of the flotsam and jetsam found in the Deep Web are unintentional cast-offs: dynamic database queries and odd file formats that search engines aren't equipped to deal with. ( BrightPlanet has a stellar Deep Web primer.) But by the time you're done reading this article, you'll know more about this shadowy, parallel online universe than Bing or Yahoo ever will.ĭarknets are small niches of the 'Deep Web,' which is itself a catch-all term for the assorted Net-connected stuff that isn't discoverable by the major search engines. Like a demilitarized zone or a lawless land, it's not a place most people visit-nor should they. All call it hard to reach-though it's hardly impregnable, given last week's news of security vulnerabilities, as well as site takedowns following the arrest of an alleged pornographer. There, you'll find a society that lurks intentionally in the blind spots of search engines. And, yes, it's also a dangerous place, where a lot of illicit, underground nastiness occurs. It's a secretive place, where Arab Spring dissidents can hide their digital tracks, a place where whistleblowers can reach out safely to scoop-seeking media outlets.

It's a hidden underbelly, home to both rogues and political activists, and accessed only with the help of specially designed anonymizing software. There's a place lurking beneath the Internet you use every day.

Tor onion land