The internet began in darkness. It was cold, colorless and difficult to navigate.

“Information Management: A Proposal” in 1989 by Tim Berners-Lee changed that. He is credited with inventing the World Wide Web, or web. In 1995, all restrictions were lifted from the internet, opening it for commercial use. With all its pros and cons, web browsers and the internet the world knows today was born. It dramatically changed the world in a few short years. Businesses had to quickly adapt to stay relevant or fade away—including Illegal enterprises.

Most people didn’t know what the web was in 1995, and most who knew about it didn’t take it seriously.  It was another “tech gimmick” like playing Pong on a Commodore or Atari computer. Before the web, academics, scientists and researchers used programs like Gopher to navigate the internet. They typed numbers and text on mostly black screens to navigate connected servers. It wasn’t easy to use. Google and slick, interactive websites didn’t exist.

Today, there are still dark places on the internet. They won’t be found with a Google search. Scientists, academics and researchers still use them, along with bad actors and organizations with something to hide. FBI executive assistant director Robert Anderson said, “There is a whole other side to the internet. You got the bad people’s web, which are child trafficking and child porn and drugs and extortion.”

And assassinations
With the creation of untraceable cybercurrencies, digital cash like bitcoin, it gets worse. In 2013, the Assassination Market was created. By all appearances, the website crowdsourced funds for murder. Anonymous people could place cryptocurrency bets on when a listed person would die. If the death date is accurate, they get the pot. The system is setup so that neither the winner nor the currency is traceable. Barack Obama and others were on the list. In December 2017, U.S. Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke’s cash pot was about $1.7 million. It’s not clear if the site or others like it still exist. The Assassination Market was believed to be defunct, but an unspecified number of deposited Bitcoins were cashed out in 2018.

Not all who use the darknet are savvy to its culture and trappings. They’re easy marks for both criminals and law enforcement. On Valentine’s Day 2019, 48-year-old Yanyan Lesser attempted to have her ex-boyfriend crippled. On a darknet site she posted, “Because of a business dispute, I would like to give this guy a lesson. Give him a good beating and legs broken, waist broken and even cripple the mark of his legs."

Two days later she transferred bitcoins worth about $4,577 “to pay for the beating,” according the U.S. Attorney’s Office. On Feb. 19, she transferred an additional $2,707. Lesser, who had to speak through a Chinese interpreter at her trial, was let off easy. Her sentence was time served (about a month) and a year of probation. She has young children, and according to her attorney, suffered physical and emotional abuse from her ex-boyfriend.

New business model for drug dealers
The traditional way of circulating illegal drugs is through face to face networks, where both sides of the transaction must establish a level of trust. This is reinforced by fear of violent repercussions if obligations aren’t met. This kept criminal circles relatively small and tight. The internet, often touted as ‘leveling the playing field’ for politics, human rights and commerce, also levels the playing field for illegal activities. Small, independent dealers working anonymously have less chance of getting ‘taken out’ by an angry supplier who wants to send a message. Joost van Slobbe, in a European Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drug Addiction report said, “The interaction between the retail trader and the purchaser or user does differ significantly from conventional street dealing. In many cases, there is no longer any face-to-face contact when the user receives the drugs. The retailer receives an order over the dark web and then sends off the drugs by post.”

The darknet is open to all, including law enforcement
According to FBI agent Chris Brest, “Drug trafficking is changing. The environment is moving from a real-world drug trafficking to more of a virtual realm in that the individuals involved in buying and selling are able to go online through the darknet and anonymously, or almost completely anonymously, buy and sell drugs to avoid law enforcement, to avoid face-to-face exposure with other drug dealers and other people.”

While the darknet is challenging for law enforcement, it’s not as anonymous as it used to be. FBI agent Eric Yinglings said, “The end goal is, of course, to remind the end user, the end purchaser, both of the dangers of the dark web marketplace and the fact that law enforcement is very cognizant of this activity. And we’re going to be continuing to stay on top of it.”

Mathew Whitters, a 40-year-old man from Seattle, was sentenced to seven years in prison last month. The U.S. Postal Inspection Service and Homeland Security Investigations investigation revealed Whitters had made more than 2,300 fentanyl sales through websites. They seized more than $1.4 million in cryptocurrency, cash and other funds. Whitters admitted they were funds from drug trafficking.

When one door closes, another opens
The best criminals are resourceful, and they learn what works best from others. Information about hiding activities is easily found on the surface internet, sites you can find with a Google search. Amazon sells books on the subject. Phone apps with 007 powers are a tap away.

The primary browser for secret transactions is The Onion Router, better known as TOR. It began at the U.S. Naval Research Lab in 1995. It was designed to communicate over the internet with as much privacy as possible. Tor was instrumental in the Arab Spring movement and Edward Snowden’s revelations. Snowden used TOR in combination with PGP data encryption software. PGP is an acronym for Pretty Good Privacy. This combination was untraceable and could not be cracked at the time.

Security is a big business. This year the cyber security market is expected to reach $200 billion and $300 billion by 2024. It’s a continuous battle between those trying to protect data and those trying to break through.

The same tools business and government agencies use to protect data are used by criminals to hide illegal activities. This includes everything from apps that hide messages in jpg photos and mp3 music files, to cloaking phone calls.

This is the new landscape the world lives in. While people worry about social media privacy, businesses, law enforcement and criminals see it as a resource. It can only get more complicated for the world and for our little community.