INOMUN 201715.03 – 17.03

RESEARCH REPORT BCOMMITTEE :  COMMISSION ON SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGYISSUE :  SCIENTIFIC TOPIC – DARKNET UNDER STATES' CONTROL CHAIRS :  NAHOMI DELTOMBE AND LOUIS BLAZEJEWSKI

Deep web is an obscure notion, often directly associated with the “Big Bad Darknet”.Media and journalists tend to give an “evil-only” aspect to the deep web and itsmany uses through documentaries entitled “How I met a drug dealer” or “Darknet :the darkside of the web”. This very biased vision of the deep web blurs the limitsbetween what is thought to be done there, and what is truly done there. In fact,illegal activities represent a minor aspect of what is happening deep down theinternet sea. Thus, questions are raised : who is afraid of the darknet¨? and most ofall, who should be afraid of it ?

It seems essential here to draw a clear distinction between the deepweb andthe darknet. The deepweb, opposed to the surface web is everything that is notcollected by the different browsers. If anybody using Google, Bing or Yahoo cannotaccess your file, it is hidden, stored under the surface, in the deep web, where liesmost of the internet’s content. Thus, a Drive, a Cloud are both part of deepweb forthey are stored in a place which is not accessible by anybody. When people usethose hidden places in order to be anonymous, they belong to the darknet. Peoplecan create private communication networks – “friend to friend” networks – butmost of the time they are used to share mere data or to simply communicate. Inother words : the surface web is anything that a search engine can access, the deepweb is anything that a search engine can’t access, the darknet then is classified asa small portion of the deep web that has been intentionally hidden and isinaccessible through standard web browsers. Thus, every network belonging to thedarkweb belongs to the deep web, but every network belonging to the deep webdoes not belong to the darknet.

Hence, technological development has led to a worldwide increasing ofcommunication, allowing oppressed populations to express themselves withoutbeing known for instance. However, a parallel growth of immoral and illegalactivities – such as prostitution, drug dealing or pedopornographia – has raised thequestion of the legitimacy of the deepweb and of its many uses.

WEB 1.0 : Creation of what is called the “world wide web” (1990s)

WEB 2.0: Social web, contributive and collaborative, creation of blogs, socialnetworks, etc. Shared data becomes a great issue. (2000s)

Surface Web : Anything that can be indexed by a typical search engine like Google,Bing or Yahoo. (surface web (10%) + deep web (90%) = world wide web).

INTRODUCTION

KEY TERMS

TOR : Usually known as the way straight to the darknet, TOR (The Onion Router)allows people to stay anonymous while surfing the web. However, illicit activitiesrepresent about 3% of what TOR is truly used for.

PRISM : Former program used by the US intelligence agencies. It illegally collecteddata and was used to spy on citizens. It was at the center of Edward Snowden’srevelations about US intelligence agencies.

Google glass : The project was the center of a debate fore the device would record24/7. Potential future consumers got afraid the devices would be hacked, leading tothe exposure of their private life.

“pay how you drive” : “Pay how you drive” is a type of vehicle insurance wherebythe costs are dependent upon type of vehicle used, measured against time,distance, behavior and place. Thus, consumers are constantly geolocalized whenusing their cars. Those data could be hacked and exposed, placing this type ofvehicle insurance at the center of the same debate encountered by the googleglass.

Blockchains : New way to encrypt data, allowing more control of the privacy by theusers of an application build upon a blockchain. It could help fighting againstcybercriminals who are stealing data but also against companies or states(Facebook’s scandals, E. Snowden’s revelations).

DNS : Domain Name Servers (DNS) are the Internet's equivalent of a phone book.They maintain a directory of domain names and translate them to Internet Protocol(IP) addresses. This is necessary because, although domain names are easy forpeople to remember, computers or machines access websites based on IPaddresses. In other words, it links one’s location, identity or name (thanks to his orher IP address) to the site he or she is visiting. As domain names and IPs are storedin the DNS, if you get access to it, you basically know everything that everybody isdoing, turning it into one of the most likely to be hacked server.

Silk road : Name given to the drug market which was developed by Ross Ulbrichtusing the darknet.

Darkode : a cybercrime forum and black marketplace described by Europol as "themost prolific English-speaking cybercriminal forum to date". The site, whichlaunched in 2007, serves as a venue for the sale and trade of hacking services,malware, and other illicit goods and services.Here is what happens when you google “darkode” :

New Yorker’s “strong box” (launched on May 14th 2013) : Online place where peoplecan send documents and messages to the magazine using darknet in order to staycompletely anonymous.

WikiLeaks : (according to its official website) “It is a multi-national mediaorganization and associated library. It was founded by its publisher Julian Assangein 2006. WikiLeaks specializes in the analysis and publication of large datasets ofcensored or otherwise restricted official materials involving war, spying andcorruption. It has so far published more than 10 million documents and associatedanalyses.” They have, for instance, exposed some private controversial informationabout american president Bush’s administration, Iraq war and Hillary Clinton’s pastcorruption (including the famous emails that have been released during hercampaign for american presidency in 2016).

WhistleBlower : It is a person who exposes any kind of information or activity that isdeemed illegal, unethical, or not correct within an organization that is either privateor public.

Great Firewall of China : It is a blanket term with ironic connotations thought tohave been coined in an article in Wired magazine in 1997 and used by international,including Chinese, media to refer to legislation and projects initiated by theChinese government (which is controlled by the Communist Party of China, CPC)that attempt to regulate the Internet in China. It is the main instrument to achieveInternet censorship in China.

A citizen of glass : Name derived from the German concept of the gläserner bürger,given to the late tendency followed by many societies nowadays : everyone istransparent because of social medias and personal data being shared over theinternet.

Generalities

• What is the darknet (introduction, Creation, etc.)

The darknet is accessible through a legal program entitled TOR (TheOnion Router). TOR protects one’s transportation of data so that certain sitescannot trace back the data to a given location (usually they do so thanks tothe DNS). The Tor Project (TOR’s current developers) states that Tor usersinclude “normal people” who wish to keep their Internet activities privatefrom websites and advertisers, people concerned about cyber-spying, userswho are evading censorship such as activists and journalists, and militaryprofessionals. As of November 2013, Tor had about four million users.

BACKGROUND INFORMATIONS

The core principle of Tor, “onion routing”, was developed in the mid.1990s by United States Naval Research Laboratory employees, mathematicianPaul Syverson and computer scientists Michael G. Reed and David Goldschlag,with the purpose of protecting U.S. intelligence communications online.According to Paul Syverson, they knew people with bad intentions would useit. 60% of the project was financed by the United States Department ofDefense. Their second aim, though, was to allow honest people to dispose of aprotecting place, to be able to share documents without revealing theiridentity nor location : “No one [would know] if you were a cancer suffererlooking for an information or a marine”.

• Who uses it & what for

The freedom and anonymity allowed by the darknet is at the genesis of thecreation of illegal markets, such as the Silk Road for instance. But on the darknet,there also are journalists and activists looking to communicate securely asgovernments look to prosecute them, such as during the Arab Spring in the MiddleEast. There are those citizens looking to bypass censorship in countries whereinternet content is suppressed: it bypasses ‘The Great Firewall of China’, forinstance. Finally, there are ordinary citizens who would prefer their viewing habitsnot to be dictated by algorithm and who would prefer their personal data to remain,well, personal. Hence, the questions of the darknet’s ruling is raised.

Major conflicts engendered

• Political consequences

As we slowly enter into the “post-Snowden” era, terrorism is raisingawareness in eastern Europe countries but also in middle east countries.

Then, those countries tend to ban “end-to-end encryptions”, meaningthey do not want different companies to protect the data they collect in orderto have access to it ; those resolutions would bound computers or cell phonesconstructors for instance with different countries.

Moreover, the darknet played – and is still playing – a major part inthe Arab Springs that have occurred since 2010, for it allowed oppressedpopulations to express themselves. The most sadly famous released videocirculated during the 2009 protests in Iran and shows Neda, a young protester,dying from a gunshot wound. It triggered worldwide awareness concerningwhat was happening in the Middle-East. It is thus a place where you canescape dictatorship or totalitarian regime, turning the darknet into ademocratic platform.

Another political conflict might be engendered by the use of theinternet nowadays. Indeed, it has moved from a space of stalling (meaning astatic use of internet) to a space of many flows (data, goods, cultural stuffs, etcare shared throughout the entire world). The control of these flows – notablyby the British and US intelligence agencies – was at the core of EdwardSnowden’s revelations back in 2013. Edward Snowden is a former CIA agent, herevealed how states were spying on their populations using differentprograms (PRISM, Tempora, Optic nerve, …). Then, those flows’ privacy isthreatened by many states ; it could also be so by exterior attacks (see theAshley Madison scandal for instance).

Finally, the WhistleBlowers’ revelations (like WikiLeaks’ andSnowden’s) are progressively unveiling the truth upon states’ illegalsurveillance policies. Hence, should the citizens grant their states the right tocontrol the only place thanks to which they can fight those policies ? In otherwords, if states are not honest with citizens’ privacy, why would citizens allowthose States to rule the only place where they can have privacy ? The NewYorker’s “strongbox” appears as a great alternative, for it protectsWhistleBlowers’ identity, preventing them from being condemned.

• Economical consequences

The growing use of the darknet has seen the massive expansion ofblack markets such as drug dealing, prostitution or illegal pornographia. Thisis why the darknet is so controversial a subject. The appearance of thisparallel economy has questioned the darknet’s control. The most famousillegal market is the “Silk Road”, a drug dealing market created by RossUlbricht. In October 2013, the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) shut downthe website and arrested Ross Ulbricht under charges of being the site'sfounder. On November 6th 2013, Silk Road 2.0 came online, run by formeradministrators of the first Silk Road. It too was shut down and the allegedoperator was arrested on 6 November 2014. Then, the ability of the federal

forces to control such a place is questioned here.

Nowadays, it is nearly impossible to not have some data collectionfrom using technological devices. Companies (such as Google, Microsoft,Apple, etc.) gather data to figure out what features consumers are using most,to make the products easier to use, and to find out what went wrong when thesystem or an app crashes. Still, once information is out in the open, there’s nogetting it back. You might then want to take the twenty or so minutes to findout just what you agreed to when you clicked “yes” setting up a brand newdevice.

Even though the companies have different business models, theycollect most of the same information and use it the same way. They all collectpersonal information such as name, email address, credit card number andtelephone number. Also, if you email someone from your Gmail/Inbox, Outlookor iCloud account, they will know what address you sent that email to. Allcompanies collect exact location data using a combination of your phone’sGPS, triangulating your location with cellular towers, and the location of anyWi-Fi or Bluetooth devices you are connected to. Finally, every data collectedis shared : this is how you end up being targeted with advertisements that areoddly familiar to what websites you have been visiting these past weeks.Hence, those revelations and scandals affect the economy for the publicopinion of the companies is altered. Indeed, the loss of many customers’ trustmight endanger a company’s economic stability (see the google glasscontroversy and the “pay how you drive” problem both explained in the“important terminology” section above). Customers tend to use the deepweband the darknet even more for it gives them the privacy they want andsomehow deserve.

• Ethical consequences

Of course the darknet is scary because it is the place where drugdealing, prostitution and many other illicit services are orchestrated. Thus,should not it be shut down in order to guarantee protection or in the merename of the law ?

On the other hand, if Edward Snowden had not revealed theinformation he has, no one would suspect the US Government to spy on,basically, the entire world. Hence, we could wonder to what extent the darknetshould be considered as a shelter. Oppressed populations could tell youabout it, do not doubt it. But should not the UN protect the victims ofprostitution markets organised using the darknet too?

Also, citizens’ privacy is at the center of the debate. Governmentspy on them, we know that for sure now. Well, isn’t it the main reason why TORis actually being used ? To guarantee one’s anonymity, to make sure one’srights are respected ? All those questions are still unanswered, and this iswhy the darknet’s control is one of the major issues at stake nowadays.

• Who should control the darknet and why ?

As mentioned before, deleting the deep web will delete thedarknet, yet deleting the darknet will not delete the deep web. However, itappears to be impossible to only delete illegal services for they would berecreated soon (see the silk road issue). Hence, should the entire deepweb bedeleted for it might prevent the illegal activities, even if it means preventingpopulations to have access to a free place to express themselves ? Or shouldcountries be able to control it even if, as seen earlier, the darknet is way tofight states’ illegal activities ? And if yes, under what criteria should a countrybe allowed – or not – to control it ?

• To what extent would it be controlled/limited ?

To the question “Should data be encrypted ?” (meaning it would beencoded, impossible to read), some countries tend to answer no since theterrorist attacks that occurred from ten years or so (Turkey, Eastern Europe,etc.). Those countries would like a clearer visibility of their citizens’ data for itmight prevent future attacks. On the other hand, new technologies are beingdeveloped, such as the “blockchains” construction, allowing more privacy forthe users of applications or internet. Then, the real question would be : “Willthe world go toward a world inhabited by Citizens of glass, or will people keepprivacy and intimacy ?”

2003 : TOR becomes a free & open source software (meaning anyone can use it forfree).

June 6th 2013 : Edward Snowden releases many information about illegal globalsurveillance in the UK and in the USA through medias.

October 2013 - November 2014 : Silk road is shut down, then recreated, then shutdown again.

May 2015 : Ross Ulbricht is sentenced to life in prison without parole after he wasconvicted of creating and running the vast dark web drug market known as “SilkRoad”.

POSSIBLE SOLUTIONS

TIMELINE OF EVENTS

August 2015 : 36 million of users of the extraconjugal meeting site “AshleyMadison” have their private informations revealed to the world due to a leak madepossible using the darknet.

October 2015 -- Safe Harbor : US/EU agreement, personal data collected while usingamerican devices (such as google, apple or facebook) are shipped off and stockedin the US for processing. In 2015, the EU discovers it actually allows US intelligenceagencies to look at the data while it is being stored in american data centers. Thedata-sharing agreement is declared invalid on October 6th 2015 by European Court.

July 2016 -- Privacy shield : is the new transatlantic agreement that replaces theold Safe Harbor. Now, the collected data must only be necessary to the preciseneeds of the company that collects them. American companies are allowed to keepthose data indefinitely, as long as they do not use them for something else thanwhat they were collected for initially. Yet, the Privacy Shield allows americanintelligence agencies to collect and use european personal data if they areconcerned in national security or in public interest cases. They would be allowed tokeep them for 5 years. It seems relevant to mention here that the director of theCentral Intelligence Agency (CIA) wrote in a letter joined with the law project thatEuropean governments were using those data too, if required for the same reasons.

China, for the CPC censures internet and prevent chinese people from accessingthe worldwide web.

North Korea for, as China, prevents its population from accessing the worldwideweb. Yet it has “Kwangmyong”, a sort of North Korean private internet that grantsaccess to educative North Korean programs or a weak e-mail system working onlywithin the country.

USA, for they are at the genesis of TOR. Moreover, they are involved in world datamanaging (see Safe Harbor & Privacy Shield). Finally, they furiously condemnSnowden’s actions.

UK for they were concerned by Snowden’s revelation, meaning they were spying ontheir population too.

Syria, for they are at the center of the arab spring, hence the use of darknet as ashelter, a place of freedom. “My computer was arrested before I was”

Egypt, for, alike Syria, darknet was the safest place for rebels during the extremeviolent arab springs.

MAJOR COUNTRIES INVOLVED

• Snowden, a serious biopic on Edward Snowden’s life and revelations, directed by Oliver Stone with Joseph Gordon-Levitt and Shailene Woodley

• Le contrat social, written by French philosopher Jean-Jacques Rousseau, exploring the trust and relations between people and their state. Even if it waswritten a long time ago, it still is a good way the explore the issue of the state protection and the restriction of citizens’ liberties.

• http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/personalfinance/10584037/Five-reasons-why-Bitcoin-is-the-most-dangerous-currency-in-the-world.html, a short video introducing the Bitcoin (currency used on the Darknet) and the reasons why it might be dangerous. Not knowing about the Bitcoin’s effects is not highly important for the debate but some of you might want to check it out.

• http://www.forbes.com/sites/laurashin/2015/12/11/should-you-invest-in-bitcoin-10-arguments-in-favor-as-of-december-2015/#7d6f6eb540ec, a more thorough explanation on Bitcoins. Those three article explain both negative and positive aspects of the investments, but they contain economical knowledge and thus are quite complicated.

• https://mic.com/articles/139210/shutting-down-the-dark-web-is-a-plainly-absurd-idea-from-start-to-finish#.ZEHPBgChl, quickly explains why it would be hard to shut down the darknet, or the deep web.

• https://www.quora.com/Is-it-possible-to-shut-down-the-deep-web, on aforum, two people try to explain wether it would be possible or not to shutdown the darknet, or the deep web. All three answers are interesting althoughthey contain some complicated technical terms.

- Cahiers Français no 392- Dossiers pour la science no 70 & no 86- Courrier international no 1310- http://www.slate.fr/monde/80471/qui-peur-du-grand-mechant-darknet- https://wikileaks.org/What-is-Wikileaks.html- http://www.lemonde.fr/pixels/article/2016/07/01/donnees-personnelles-un-

accord-privacy-shield-tres-favorable-pour-les-etats-unis_4962245_4408996.html

- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1WFv4shADE8- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dark0de

MORE INFORMATIONS

BIBLIOGRAPHY

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handles-your-data-better-a7022bd452b1#.bugimjb6k- http://surveillance.rsf.org/category/pays-ennemis-internet/- https://darknetmarkets.co/dark-net-scary/- http://ibou.fr.over-blog.com/2014/02/le-darknet-une-arme-de-r

%C3%A9volte.html- http://ibou.fr.over-blog.com/2014/02/le-darknet-et-le-printemps-arabe.html- http://blogs.spectator.co.uk/2015/03/online-anonymity-is-both-dangerous-

and-democratic/- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tor_(anonymity_network)#Usage- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Firewall- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Whistleblower- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Silk_Road_(marketplace)- http://bigbrowser.blog.lemonde.fr/2014/12/23/que-sait-on-de-linternet-en-

coree-du-nord/- http://surveillance.rsf.org/