When we talk about the internet, we usually define it as a network of networks — that is, computers and servers connected to each other all over the world. Some of these servers are easily accessible thanks to search engines, which index their pages and content.
Other servers, on the other hand, remain somewhat more hidden, either because search engines aren't interested in them or because their creators block search engines for various reasons. This group includes what's known as the Deep Web and the Dark Web.
At FullOffice Learning, we set out to write this article to explain, in a simple and easy-to-understand way, exactly what the concepts of Deep Web and Dark Web are, with an emphasis on the difference between them.
It's almost always brought up in connection with criminal activity taking place in the depths of the web, and rarely does anyone stop to explain what the Dark Web actually is. To understand what they are, you need to understand three different concepts: Clearnet, Deep Web, and Dark Web.
The easiest to understand is CLEARNET, which is the internet as you know it — all the pages indexed by search engines like Google, Bing, Yahoo!, etc., which you can access directly through them. An example of Clearnet is FullOffice.com, a site that you can find quickly by googling it, and that you can access without any problem by typing in the web address.
As unreal as it might seem, 90% of the content on the web isn't accessible through search engines. That's part of the DEEP WEB, which covers all the information you can't access publicly. On this dark side of the internet, we find private pages, databases, and perfectly ordinary pages that have been deliberately de-indexed from Google or other search engines
Imagine, for example, a page you access by typing a regular web address, but whose content you can't access unless you pay a certain fee or a monthly subscription. That's the Deep Web.
Now, if the Deep Web makes up 90% of the Internet, the DARK WEB would only account for 0.1% of it. The Dark Web is where everything on the internet that shouldn't be online — because it breaks the laws of dozens of countries around the world — comes together. That's why accessing it is more complicated and relies on darknets, which in many cases require a prior invitation.
That's the big difference: we can say that, despite what most people think, the Deep Web isn't as exotic a concept as it's made out to be.
It's also important to make clear that the Dark Web isn't inherently bad, that many of the myths about it are false, and that it actually has quite a few pages with constructive content. The Dark Web also serves as a shelter for activists persecuted in countries especially harsh on freedom of expression, and it helps others get around local censorship to access information.