Title of the Essay, Author, and Date

Ethical Pros and Cons of the Darknet by Marc Davis (April, 23, 2014)

Title of the Reflection

A  network that can only be accessed with specific software

First Impression

A n essay about the advantages and disadvantages of the internet

Quote

Because crime is a market-driven enterprise and people will want to speak, write and read freely, without censorship of any kind. This is the great paradox of the Darknet.

Reflection Paper

I was amazed to find out the staggering statistics about the “Darknet”, including the positive and negative effects of its existence.   Overall, I recognize both the upside and downside of the Darknet and its contents. I enjoy the fact that suppressed people from totalitarian government systems can use the Darknet as a venue to express their freedom of speech. But the Darknet, paradoxically, is also like a Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, with its share of good qualities as well, including its use by law enforcement agencies to conceal their own legal activities and as a medium for writing and reading what might otherwise be censored in authoritarian states. So the Darknet is not entirely evil and beyond redemption.  The wealth of illegal activity occurring within the Darknet is devastating to lives of numerous people. The sale of drugs, sexual services, weapons, and assassins is all available for purchase on the  Darknet, and Also much in demand from Darknet entrepreneurs are phony passports, birth certificates, forged or bogus documents and stolen credit cards.The Darknet is free of restrictions and allows anonymity, and thus permits illegal activity. Various agencies such as the police and FBI have made efforts to discontinue criminal activity on the Darknet, but have only experienced limited success. I believe the only true way to stop the Darknet’s destructive nature would be to shut it down entirely. Sufficient steps need to be made in the near future by governmental departments in order to isolate the Darknet’s accessibility.

5 things I've learned

1. The Darknet, paradoxically, is also like a Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, with its share of good qualities as well, including its use by law enforcement agencies to conceal their own legal activities and as a medium for writing and reading what might otherwise be censored in authoritarian states. So the Darknet is not entirely evil and beyond redemption.
2. Major crimes committed through the assistance of the Darknet.

3. A notorious Darknet site called Silk Road was alleged to be a virtual supermarket of narcotics, where traffickers and users could buy their drugs of choice in small amounts or wholesale lots. The FBI took down the site, but soon afterward a site called Silk Road 2.0 appeared and reportedly resumed business as usual.

4.   Darknet “hacktivist” vigilantes also roam the territory in pursuit of villains and villainous sites.
5.  The TOR Project site – TOR is short for The Onion Router – is home to a network that allows anonymous browsing of both the mainstream Internet and Darknet. TOR also hosts a directory of Darknet sites, most of which have the suffix .onion as the address extension.

5 integrative questions

1. What was the reason major crimes committed through the assistance of the Darknet?
2. Why Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde compared to Darknet, then why not make it legal if it also shares good qualities?
3. Why outsiders or third parties cannot access communications between two parties, the sellers and buyers of Darknet contraband and illegal services are impossible to trace?
4. Where are whistleblowers who can tell news sources about their talks of public or private sector misconduct, mismanagement,  malfeasance or worse and be assured that they won't be tagged as snitch?
5. Why allow to get to to Darknet, if it will not bring good to the people?