Differences And Characteristics Of The Deep Web And The Internet

As one of the most influential technologies in recent history, the Internet serves a variety of purposes, from a networking communications technology to a cultural platform. Despite its development in the United States being initially a result of the government attempting to achieve global communications with the Advanced Research Projects Agency (ARPA), the Internet has functioned as a fundamental tool for citizens in democratic societies. In regards to its democratic uses, many authors have debated whether the Internet serves as a public sphere, a fundamental area in democratic society theorized by Jurgen Habermas in which citizens gather in a space to identify and discuss social and political issues. Despite the claims that the internet and its technologies like the World Wide Web serve as a free space which promotes open democratic discussion, the surface web carries a lack of anonymity, and is influenced from third parties like governments and corporations through advertising. Instead, the Deep Web, the content on the Web that cannot be found through regular search engines, prevents many

As previously mentioned, the Deep Web is not accessible by standard search engines, but private networking technologies like Tor. Tor is an anonymous communication software that hides a user’s data traffic and location to prevent any sort of surveillance from governments or advertisers. While the technology can be used on the surface web for those who prioritize privacy, however TOR, and technologies that offer similar services, offer access to the Deep Web. With anonymity and privacy becoming a recurring theme in Internet studies, one must ask: Why is anonymity and privacy so important to the Deep Web’s users? And more importantly, why is anonymity so important to the public