I can’t say I had ever heard the term Darknet until today. After watching this video, however, I believe I understand.

This was my take… a Darknet is a network of users privately and perhaps anonymously sharing information of all types. I am not sure if they are invite only but I suspect they are.

There are many pros and cons to the concept of Darknets; the pros being protected, anonymous free speech (i.e. people in China who want to flout censorship use them)… the cons being blatant illegal activity (lots of pirated content being shared and god knows what else).

Weighing in, this term is nothing new… I think the term is just another name for the Internet – the way it use to be before governments and legal entities enforced laws and censorship. Now groups and users have taken a step deeper into the bowels of the Internet to protect themselves from lawful and unlawful persecution. I do not condone the illegal activities within Darknets but I fully and completely believe Darknets are necessary to maintain the free essence of the Internet. The global community has become tighter and more efficient since the emergence of the Internet (a debatable topic I am sure but that is how I feel) and I worry that growing censorship and pending legal precedent may reverse much of the headway.

Anyway, I don’t know why I wrote this post except that for some reason it felt right. Heh, I suppose that is what weblogs are for… speculation, discussion, freedom of speech and debate. Till later…