There lies a hidden Internet below what we normally know as the ‘surface web’. The hidden net is actually inaccessible through ordinary browsers. Information on normal search engines like Google, Bing, Dogpile, Yippy or any direct URL’s represent a fraction of the Internet. 95% of the addresses on the Internet lies beyond the grasp of any normal browsers or search engines. I found it frightening at first, but the Dark Net is really easy to access.

In this article, I will try to indulge you into some of the insight of the Dark Net. But first of all, let’s break the Internet into three categories:

Surface Web and Deep Web

Surface web as I’ve aforementioned is just a tiny part of the Internet. No doubt, people use this section to retrieve their daily news via social networking sites and any other information that is available on search engines. But the Deep Web, also known as the “invisible web” is a bit different than the surface web. Indexes via direct URL or Google, Safari, and so forth, are inaccessible in the deep web. Only some specified searches can fetch the hidden data inside the deep web. The Deep Web is at least 500 times larger than the surface web and it’s still growing.

Information on the Deep Web is inaccessible through normal browsing software that creates the search engines indexes. Deep Web uses alternative search engines and it is publicly accessible. The indexes inside the Deep Web mainly consist of databases, libraries and members-only websites. These databases will allow you to dive into a fortune of information.

Deep web manifests plenty of knowledge anything from academic articles and journals to medical directories, and much more. It also includes reports, statistics and other documents from all levels of the U.S government. These sites have a better quality of information than any normal search engines would display.

The Dark Net

“DarkNet” or “dark web” is a small part of the Deep Web. Both the web servers and website developers of the dark web are entirely unknown. In fact, these websites are completely anonymous to the outside world. You can gain access to Dark Net through Tor or The Onion Router network.

Tor browser uses a network of computers or nodes which make the contents completely invisible. When users enter a certain URL, the Tor browser shares the data across a chain of similar network of computers. The browser dispenses the URL request and obscures the source and destination of the signal. This creates a maze of computers so that the URL on Tor browser is untraceable on the destination website. Because of this anonymity, many people use the dark net for illicit purposes. Drugs, weapons, and pornography are popular among the darknet users.

How to access into Dark Net?

The onion router breaks the direct link between the source and the destination computer. Therefore Tor browser is user-friendly for anonymous communication. Dark Net websites usually have an irregular address and composed of random strings of characters. Most of the websites on Dark Net have “.onion” at the end of their URL, for eg: http://dppmfxaacucguzpc.onion/. This site is inaccessible on normal browsers but it has a catalog of Dark Net websites that are available on Tor browser. Facebook‘s dark net has Tor address facebookcorewwwi.onion.

Who uses the Dark Net?

Primarily, websites on the Dark Net does not involve illegal activities. US Military originally founded the hidden net. Military, government and law enforcements are the majority of the darknet users. Darknet mainly incorporates information databases for journalists, secret negotiations in political chat rooms, activists and revolutionaries websites, and other platforms. Journalists and political bloggers are popular among the darknet users, due to the strict policies in censorships of some nations.

DarkNet also involves instant messaging services as well as the Wikileaks portal where squealers can post any information namelessly. Since Dark Net offers secured online anonymity, terrorists and criminals advocate illegal and violent activities through darknet. Extremists can also organize their activities without disclosing their identity or location to the governments.

Dark Net and Cryptocurrencies.

Dark Net is the largest criminal marketplace in the world. Here you can buy anything from drugs, prostitutes, guns, ammunitions, and even assassinations or hit men. A recent police operation took down the infamous Silk Road marketplace that had a business exchange of around $1.7 billion in a span of just two years.

Due to the advantages in the anonymous transaction for the cryptocurrency, these illicit businesses are administered by using only Bitcoins. Namecoin and Safecoin are very popular among the darknet traders. These currencies allow you to buy or sell things and transfer money with minimum fees. They also offer privacy networks for other users to host websites and apps.

Advice to the beginners of Dark Net

The Dark Net is the Mob land of the Internet. Furthermore, the users have complete freedom of the information inside the darknet. Moreover, the data are encrypted which means the user is untraceable on the network. Everyone is anonymous therefore it largely attracts child sexual abuse networks and mostly dubious contents. If you decide to check out the contents inside the DarkNet, please be cautious. Otherwise, you might now know where you’d end up or what you might see.

According to the announcement made by the Ministry of Home Affairs, bio-metric smart cards are all set to used in replacement for citizenship cards. Within January 2018, 1 lakh and 17 thousand Nepali will be provided with these biometric smart cards. This smart card will include the citizen’s personal information that exists in the present citizenship cards along with other biological information, collected and stored electronically.

As per the government’s annual policy, program and the budget, the National ID Center has set up a biometric card processing department that will be preparing all the necessary hardware and software supplies. At a meeting conducted among Government Officials in June 8, the design for the new bio-metric smart card had been approved.

Moreover, sensing the need for raising awareness about the significance of the biometric smart cards, the NID had been conducting consultations with the Election Commission of Nepal since September. They even put forward the idea for using these smart cards for voters’ registration or voter identity documents. The biometric smart cards will not only be the replacement of the citizenship cards, but also for distributing government services and social security benefits. These cards can also be used as an electronic authorization, cross-border security documentation and for the delivery of healthcare, welfare services, among others. All in all, these smart cards will help to provide prompt and quality service to the citizens at minimum cost, to maintain good governance and even to control crime in the society.

The Executive Director of National Identity Card Management Centre, Uddhav Prasad Timilsina has said that an online registration system will be made for registering the card. The Department of Passports is also said to be collaborating with NID Centre to add all the required information to the card. The polycarbonate cards, containing unique and random ID numbers, will contain 25 security features and will have unlimited validity. There’d be no initial charge for obtaining the card, but in case of loss or damage, the government is expected to charge around USD 3 which is the approximate manufacturing cost of one such card.

A French company: Safran Identity and Security, Morpho had won the bid for the project which is to be funded by the Asian Development Bank.