Additionally, the term is often inaccurately used interchangeably with the deep web because of Tor's history as a platform that could not be search-indexed. The term 'darknet' is often used interchangeably with ' dark web' because of the quantity of hidden services on Tor's darknet. The reciprocal term for a darknet is a clearnet or the surface web when referring to content indexable by search engines. Since ARPANET, the usage of dark net has expanded to include friend-to-friend networks (usually used for file sharing with a peer-to-peer connection) and privacy networks such as Tor. An account detailed how the first online transaction related to drugs transpired in 1971 when students of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Stanford University traded marijuana using ARPANET accounts in the former's Artificial Intelligence Laboratory.

The term originally described computers on ARPANET that were hidden, programmed to receive messages but not respond to or acknowledge anything, thus remaining invisible, in the dark.

Anonymous communication between whistle-blowers, activists, journalists and news organisations is also facilitated by darknets through use of applications such as SecureDrop. Technology such as Tor, I2P, and Freenet was intended to defend digital rights by providing security, anonymity, or censorship resistance and is used for both illegal and legitimate reasons. The term 'darknet' was popularized by major news outlets to associate with Tor Onion services, when the infamous drug bazaar Silk Road used it, despite the terminology being unofficial.

Two typical darknet types are social networks (usually used for file hosting with a peer-to-peer connection), and anonymity proxy networks such as Tor via an anonymized series of connections. For websites that exist on top of this technology, see dark web.Ī dark net or darknet is an overlay network within the Internet that can only be accessed with specific software, configurations, or authorization, and often uses a unique customized communication protocol.

For other uses, see Darknet (disambiguation). This article is about network technology.

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