The Structure and Scale of the Internet
📌 The internet is visualized using an iceberg analogy: the Surface Web (searchable sites like Google, Facebook) is the visible tip.
📌 The Deep Web constitutes about 90% of the internet, comprising non-indexed content like government or hospital databases, and personal emails.
📌 The Dark Web represents a tiny fraction, estimated at only 0.1% of the total internet structure.

Origin and Functionality of the Dark Web (Tor)
🧅 The concept underpinning the Dark Web originated from US government research starting in 1968 by ARPA, initially aimed at secure military communication.
🧅 The Tor (The Onion Router) network, announced publicly around 2002, uses multi-layered encryption (like onion layers) relayed through volunteer computers (nodes) to obscure the user's true location and activity.
🧅 A key function of Tor is providing anonymity; each node only knows the previous and the next hop, preventing surveillance, although the exit node and the ISP can still see encrypted traffic entering/leaving the network.
📌 The initial reason for making Tor public was strategic: a large, messy public network (the noise/غبش) makes it harder for adversaries to isolate and target specific, highly secure government communications.

The Dark Web's Role in Information Sharing and Controversy
📰 The Dark Web is critical for secure information transfer, as evidenced by Edward Snowden using it to communicate with journalists about NSA surveillance revelations in 2013.
📰 Major news outlets like the New York Times and Washington Post maintain `.onion` sites to allow sources in restrictive regimes to leak sensitive information anonymously.
🦠 During the COVID-19 outbreak, initial critical information that the Chinese government suppressed was reportedly leaked via the Dark Web by concerned citizens.
💻 Many beneficial resources, such as free academic papers, cracked software (cracks), and pirated movies, often originate from or are distributed via the Dark Web.

Silk Road and Cryptocurrency Association
₿ The emergence of Bitcoin (circa 2009) by Satoshi Nakamoto provided the necessary untraceable currency to fuel the growth of Dark Web marketplaces.
👤 Ross Ulbricht (Dread Pirate Roberts) founded Silk Road (a marketplace for illegal goods, including drugs), aiming initially for a libertarian ideal of personal freedom, but it quickly became a hub for organized illegal trade.
💰 Silk Road took a commission, reportedly starting at 6% and rising to 10% of all transactions, generating massive wealth.
⚖️ Ulbricht was arrested in 2013 and received a severe sentence: two life sentences plus 40 years for non-violent online crimes, intended as a major deterrent.
📈 Paradoxically, the media attention around Silk Road's rise and fall contributed to the legitimization and increased awareness of Bitcoin.

Key Points & Insights
➡️ It is a common misconception that the Dark Web contains the majority of the internet; it accounts for only 0.1%, while the Deep Web holds 90%.
➡️ The Dark Web facilitates vital functions like whistleblowing and journalism protection in oppressive environments, exemplified by Snowden's leaks.
➡️ Illicit activity is not exclusive to the Dark Web; platforms like Telegram are now acting as decentralized, encrypted darknets outside the Tor network for coordinating activities.
➡️ While used for severe criminal activities, the existence of the Dark Web also underpins the free availability of copyrighted material (movies, research papers) that users benefit from.

📸 Video summarized with SummaryTube.com on Nov 09, 2025, 13:34 UTC