It seemed, for a time, like open season for federal authorities. Days later, it was revealed that the National Security Agency was directly targeting Tor and its users.įrom any number of angles, it appeared that a chink in the armor of Tor-the powerful anonymizing service that allowed these services to flourish-had been discovered and exploited. Freedom Hosting, the biggest host on the Deep Web and owned by a man the FBI called the “largest facilitator of child porn on the planet,” was taken down almost exactly two months prior. Multiple new black markets opened and closed, stealing millions of dollars from customers and sellers alike.Įven before Silk Road’s closure, there was cause for serious concern. The fall of Silk Road shook the entire Deep Web-the unindexed, anonymous part of the Internet on which it was hosted-setting off a chain reaction of high-profile arrests and scams. 2, 2013, the Federal Bureau of Investigation seized the infamous black market and arrested its alleged mastermind, Ross Ulbricht. Silk Road wasn’t built in a day, but it dropped off the Internet in an instant.

Tor porn chat links