The Dark Net
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3.7 • 7 Ratings
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- £6.99
Publisher Description
From the creator of hit podcast The Missing Cryptoqueen
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Guns. Sex. Drugs. Murder.
The Dark Net is just a click away.
Beyond the familiar online world that most of us inhabit lies a vast network of sites, communities and cultures where freedom is pushed to its limits. A world that is as creative and complex as it is dangerous and disturbing. A world that is much closer than you think.
The Dark Net is a revelatory examination of the internet today, and of its most innovative and dangerous subcultures, stretching from secret Facebook groups to the encrypted and hidden Tor network. In it, Bartlett goes in search of the people behind the screen, meeting trolls and pornographers, drug dealers and hackers, political extremists and computer scientists, Bitcoin programmers and self-harmers, libertarians and vigilantes.
Based on extensive first-hand experience, exclusive interviews and shocking documentary evidence, The Dark Net offers a startling glimpse of human nature under the conditions of freedom and anonymity, and shines a light on an enigmatic and ever-changing world.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Bartlett, a technology columnist for the Telegraph, takes readers on an engaging if occasionally disturbing tour of the Internet's darker corners. While some associate the term "dark net" with the deeper levels untraveled by most casual users, Bartlett expands the designation to include more accessible niches as well, including sites for child pornography, racial supremacists, suicide forums, and camgirls. These Internet underworlds are "worlds of freedom and anonymity, where users say and do what they like, often uncensored, unregulated, and outside of society's norms," Bartlett writes. As he explores the evolution and nature of trolling online and traces its origins back to the dawn of the Internet itself, he likewise examines the function of identity in a setting where you can reinvent yourself endlessly, for good and bad, and how it impacts the real world. He looks at how the Internet fosters communities brought together by every interest imaginable. He also touches upon the evolution of commerce and illicit transactions, visiting the famed Silk Road website to see all that's available for those who dare. While some of these revelations come as little surprise pornography online is hardly a secret this is still a lively, darkly informative work. Readers may find some of the frankness and subject matter upsetting, though, as Bartlett hits some controversial subjects (e.g., pro-anorexia and pro-suicide websites) along the way.
