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The Dark Web
If you were able to attend the meeting in which we talked all about the internet ans the dark web then go ahead and download the resources here that will get you on to the dark web. There is also a text file with .onion URLs that we discussed during the meeting. If you did not attend the meeting then I recommend you read what is below to get a decent understanding of how all of this works and what it means to access the dark web.
Resources
Link to download TOR browser:
TOR Browser
Link to download TAILS. Follow the instructions on how to verify your download:
TAILS
For those curious, TAILS will help you become more anonymous if you are trying to be extra careful when on the dark web. I have TOR on my mac and I use it to access the dark web when I'm bored or want to access a specific site with a little more anonymity.
Google as a Browser
Google sells ads not only on their search engine, but also on over 2.2 million other websites and over 1 million apps. Every time you visit one of these sites or apps, Google is storing that information and using it to target ads at you. A quick alternative can be to switch to Firefox. Firefox keeps very little data on you and blocks third-parties tracking cookies by default. Firefox is not watching you.
Google as a Search Engine
Search engines are your second gate keepers to the internet, right after your ISP. Google tweaks what and how results appear on the page, which changes how you think. Average users don't understand just how much google knows about them. It goes against what search engines are made for, providing organic search results. Organic search result is referring to how all pages are indexed based on the search term and the content of the website alone and they are ranked according to how well these two parameters match.
See for yourself. Go ahead and google "is google manipulating search results" on google.com and then search it again on another search engine such as duckduckgo.com and take a look at the difference. Google places content they want above the organic search results, making you scroll and making it more difficult to get to the organic results.
You can switch to a private search engine such as Duck Duck Go. They are great! They block sites from tracking you, and they don't keep any data on you. They don't care where you're going.
Incognito Mode
If you were wondering why ads still follow you around when you are in incognito mode it is because incognito mode only deletes your local search and browsing history, just the content on your computer. Websites, search engines, internet service providers, and governments can still easily track you across the web.
Virtual Private Network
VPNs, do you know what they really do?
Your ISP (Internet Service Provider) can see the domain name of the site that you are visiting and there could be very good reason to hide those. Domain name refers to the main name of the site. So if you go to, this isn't a real site, https://YouTube.com/something/interesting/watchtv?=aerSnfSLflag{you_found_me}F9u$34t9g then the only thing that your ISP is going to see is that you went to YouTube.com, which is meta data. Your country may allow ISPs to sell that data to advertisers to build up a profile on you. Or maybe you are studying at a fundamentalists Christian college and you don't want the university administrators knowing that you are questioning your faith or your sexuality. Or maybe, your government is blocking adult type content and you want to get around it.
If you are getting a VPN because you are concerned that your ISP is reading your messages well then you don't need to get one. As long as there is a padlock in the browser, typically right to the left of the URL, then your data is encrypted. If you are using any modern app then again, your data is encrypted. If you do use a VPN, all you are doing is changing who can see that meta data. Now what your ISP sees is the location of the server of the VPN that you are using. If you don't trust your ISP, why do you trust your VPN Service? There are many VPN services that have been hacked and caught logging without permission. If you decide to use a VPN then make sure you do your research on the company. Many of them are in it for the money.
Many of the claims VPN services use to reel you in are a load of cr*p. If they say that they don't log your data no matter what, then that would be crazy. If that were true then their services would immediately be used for criminal activity and if they told you that they do log all of your data then they are going to get no customers. You just have to make sure they don't log your data without your permission. And if they do, people will eventually find out and they will go bankrupt.
Another thing they'll use to try and reel you in is they will say that they use military grade encryption. This is AES, advanced encryption standard, and it is used on almost every site now by default. Don't believe me? Go to YouTube and click on the padlock in the browser and then click on the arrow next to "connection secure" and then click on more information. That's right, they use military grade encryption as well, pretty crazy right?! Unless you are being targeted by the government, using a VPN doesn't make your passwords and financial data any more safe. They are already pretty safe.
You may be wondering, "Hey person who created this github who's name shall never be revealed, when is a good time to use a VPN?". Well, assuming that you did your research and found a VPN that you can trust then a good time to use one would be if want to hide your identity and pretend you are in another country, torrent whatever you want, and if you want to download the last season of Game of Thrones. And if you are wondering if the government is going to serve a gag order for you because you downloaded a whole season of Game of Thrones then worry not! Believe it or not the government has more important things to do.
So just keep the following in mind. VPNs are useful, but not for everyday internet activity. Your ISP such as Verizon has no interest other than collecting your data, such as domain names you visit. But that is something that they need because they need to send that information to a DNS server which then fins the IP address for the URL that you are trying to visit. Also, can you trust the VPN service you are using? My intention isn't to scare you into never going on the internet again, it is just to inform you on what is happening. You deserve to know, we all deserve to know. Our privacy is our right and there are things in which we would rather the world not know. And like I mentioned earlier your messages are now encrypted by default so no one can read the entire data that is being sent when you are visiting a website, just the domain name.
When searching for a VPN service to use keep the following in mind. Your VPN is owned by a private corporation. Your VPN provider determines the available servers. Your VPN provider has no proof that they keep your data safe; And your VPN provider is in control of the entire traffic. Have fun researching!! :)
You can also set up your own VPN and it would actually cost less than paying for a VPN service, but that's its own presentation. Let me know if that is something you would be interested in learning more about, if you even know who this is.
The Internet
The internet was actually coined for a short word for inter-networking. The internet is a huge system of interconnected intranets or computer networks from all over the globe. The internet supports lots of different services, just one of which is the world wide web.