The adage about every market having a madman may be archaic but true from the perspective that having a madman does not make it a mad market. Indeed, the madness of the madman is not even an integral characteristic of the market, just one of the passive prerequisites. The deep web on the internet has been used to commit many crimes, case in point being Ross William Ulbricht Silk Road. Before the advent of the internet, among the most common forms of crimes was armed robbery. Most criminals would use cars and roads as part of their means of committing crimes. Yet at no time were cars and roads condemned because of their acts and omissions in committing crimes. It, therefore, follows that the use of a system of a piece of infrastructure for the commission of a crime does not mean that the system or infrastructure itself is evil. This research paper focuses on the deep web with an intent to prove that albeit the deep web has been used for criminal purposes, it does not make it a negative thing.
Background of the Deep Web
Almost everybody knows about the internet. In the current dispensation, popularly known as the information age, an overwhelming cross section of the society uses the internet on a regular basis (Ciancaglini et al., 2015). Indeed, Google Inc. has risen to become the largest company in the world worth hundreds of billions of dollars, mainly from organizing information for the internet users. Yet, before 1998 when Google began, the internet still existed, but there was no one to guide people around it (Blandford, 2015). Further, those were the days when most information was closely regulated by governments around the world and the only information readily available on the internet was carefully regulated and vetted. Some anonymous individuals developed within the internet anonymous, unregistered and unregulated segments of the web where inter alia, information would be unregulated, not vetted, and unrestricted (Ciancaglini et al., 2015). By definition, the deep web is a part of the internet that casual internet users are unable to access and do not fall under normal internet regulation.
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The Golden Rule Approach to the Issue
The golden rule approach to an issue is taken when it is simpler and regular interpretation may not be deemed satisfactory (Duxbury, 2009). In the instant scenario, it would be easy to conclude that because the deep web has been used for criminal activities, is liberal and ungoverned, even ungovernable, then it must be wrong. It stands against what contemporary society is all about, that is string adherence to the law, rules, and norms. Under the golden rule, however, a deeper focus on the issue at hand is necessary leading to a careful perusal of all issues kindred to the subject (Duxbury, 2009). Hereunder, the instant research paper will take the golden rule approach to understanding the instant subject of the deep web. It is under this rule that a determination on whether or not the deep web is evil will also be made.
Information is Power, but Yoked Power is no Power at All.
America is called the free world, mainly because democracy is deeply entrenched into its society. One of the most important elements of this democracy is freedom of access to information (Cox, 2017). This is because giving a normal member of the society a vote is futile unless you place in the hands of that individual enough information to enable the proper use of that vote. This is why information is a constitutional right in America. One has to, however, wonder, what information Americans have a guaranteed access to. Is it all information of carefully selected information? It is a fact that today, governments are not the most powerful entities in society. Indeed, most governments are either servants or hostages of the private sector. The freedom of information under the golden rule, must be considered not to just be about voting and electing leaders but also protecting the populace from the excesses of the private sector in general and mega-corporations in particular (Cox, 2017). Yet, this mega-corporations currently own most if not all mainstream media. Media houses are either owned by private companies or owe a majority of their revenue to corporations. These corporations then seek to control what information is placed in the media. Indeed, corporate America has even attacked the seemingly free social media and even tried to obstruct freedom of information on YouTube. In a nutshell, freedom of information is under siege. The information then needs a champion where no government or corporate sector can be able to attack it (Blandford, 2015). The deep web and its users are the only viable champions at the moment. These champions are able to share information that cannot otherwise be allowed to see the light of day. The freedom of the people depends on freedom of information and this is provided inter alia by the deep web.
The Contrary Argument about the Dangers of the Dark Web
The news surrounding Ross William Ulbricht is enough evidence about how dangerous the deep web can be. It shows that it can and has repeatedly been used to commit crimes such as money laundering, drug trafficking, and smuggling (Duffy, 2017). It would not be rational, even under the golden rule to rely on the veracity of these facts. Indeed, it would be fair to admit that the deep web can indeed be dangerous as and when used for the aforementioned vices. However, the other side of the internet has also been used to commit heinous crimes. Indeed, terrorists have been knowing to take advantage of the state of the art end to end coding found in WhatsApp, a popular social media network to communicate about their intended terror activities (Sparrow. 2017). Facebook and Twitter have been used openly by a criminal organization to communicate devious messages masses. Indeed it is now common to hear mainstream news channels such as Fox and CNN quote the official Twitter Channel of organizations such as Al Qaeda and ISIS. It is this kind of communications and activities that the deep web was vilified for. It would be unfair and hypocritical to now condemn the dark web over issues that are now freely found in mainstream intent media (Blandford, 2015).
It must be admitted that the deep web is unregulated and has been repeatedly used to commit heinous crimes as well as economic crimes. However, the world is evolving so is the internet and those issues that used to be the preserve of the dark web have now moved into the mainstream internet, more so in the developed world. In some countries, however, extreme regulation remains on the mainstream internet leaving the deep web as the only source of unfiltered and unregulated information. Yet, even in the developed world, government and mega-corporations are still determined to restrict and or control information because an informed populace is not easy to take advantage of. The deep web remains the last gap hope for an informed populace to avoid the erosion of the level of freedom that the freedom of information brings. Yes, crime has been committed through the deep web. This makes the deep web just the same as the mainstream internet, road, vehicles, ships, and planes through which criminal activities also take place, to condemn one, all must then be condemned.
References
Blandford, A. (2015). Google, public libraries, and the deep web. Dalhousie Journal of Interdisciplinary Management , 11.
Ciancaglini, V., Balduzzi, M., McArdle, R., & Rösler, M. (2015). The Deep Web. Trend Micro
Cox, A. M. (2017, January 19). Carla Hayden thinks libraries are a key to freedom . Retrieved October 04, 2017, from https://www.nytimes.com/2017/01/19/magazine/carla-hayden-thinks-libraries-are-a-key-to-freedom.html
Duffy, C. (2017, May 31). Dread Pirate Roberts confirmed as lifetime jailbird after appeal loss. Retrieved October 04, 2017, from http://www.abc.net.au/news/2017-06-01/silk-road-ross-ulbricht-confirmed-lifetime-jailbird-appeal-loss/8578000
Duxbury, N. (2009). Golden rule reasoning, moral judgment, and law. Notre Dame L. Rev. , 84 , 1529-2269
Sparrow, A. (2017, March 26). WhatsApp must be accessible to authorities, says Amber Rudd. Retrieved October 04, 2017, from https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2017/mar/26/intelligence-services-access-whatsapp-amber-rudd-westminster-attack-encrypted-messaging
