Niki: Google Search

Here’s a copy of the Niki I wrote for Google Search from the perspective of the Dark Internet:

The Dark Internet

“Omnes relinquite spes, o vos intrantes.”
Abandon hope, all ye who enter here.

Dante Alighieri, The Divine Comedy

Suddenly, darkness. This is a decrepit space. This is where I can’t be reached. Anonymity envelops me like a blanket. My identity is no more – I am nameless, faceless, flitting between spaces as quietly and discreetly as is possible. I am anonymous.

The freedom is liberating; it is also ominous. Around me, I see misguided forms engaging in unimaginable acts. There are those who use the anonymity for perversion, to indulge their inmost carnality. I shudder. Here, anything is possible.

I move along the Silk Road, tempted. Traders display their wares, making promises one less informed might think they couldn’t keep – but I know better. Better not, I think.

I descend deeper, to the second circle. Here, carnal malefactors indulge their iniquitous appetites. Reason, no – only dissolution. Archetypes of innocence, soiled. Horror reigns.

I decide not to explore the other eight circles, in fear of what I might find. One hears rumors – of unspeakable contracts forged in the appellation of man’s vilest capacities, of wares traded not in the interest of amity, but calamity.

I log out of Tor, and venture back to the searchable dominion of the net. That was enough for today.

The Research

Here are two articles about the Dark Internet that I found particularly fascinating:

• The Independent: Exposed: The dark side of the internet, where you can buy drugs, sex and indecent images (Paul Peachey)
• The Age: The new underbelly (Eileen Ormsby)

Happy reading!