Were those websites real?

[evilerevilhero]

Or were they exaggerated.

[SeValentine]

You gotta realize its a game based ON the dark web/deep web.

So accurate in a 50% can be real or fake

[Saul Goodman]

Exaggerated? I don't think so. I think compared to the actual Deep Web itself, what the stuff in this game shows is fairly timid.

I've never been on the Deep Web myself, but I know that it is home to some of the most degenerate content that has ever existed. Websites so foul, that you could not even fathom the fact that they actually exist, but they do.

[ultramage]

They're all made up. A few are be based on real world sites hosted on the Tor Network - Silk Road drug store, ransomware payment sites, Freedom Hosting datacenter services, Secure Drop classified document leaking services by newspapers, the Tor Wiki itself, etc.

The 'dark web' is a vague term probably invented by news sites and politicians, to have a quick short-hand... similar to the $hitshow that happened to the word 'hacker'. In the broadest sense, it could mean anything on the internet that you can't freely access via a dumb web browser. So private forums, websites on the Tor/I2P network, encrypted peer to peer chat, or in general, anything that's not HTTPs. It's a really crappy way to talk about a complicated and varied subject, but it's an easy way to scare people watching a news program on TV.

In general, the websites portrayed in the game are hosted on the equivalent of the Tor network (a Free Software project funded by all sorts of legit organizations, including the US govt). Extra software is needed to use a web browser to access it. The main 'selling point' is that it hides the user and the server from each other. In particular, this lets the server host all sorts of stuff without the risk of it immediately being taken down by a DMCA/C&D complaint to the hosting, or a police datacenter raid.

However, the existence of most of the ingame sites is absurd under this premise. To get any visitors, they'd need to have the software installed (big hurdle), and know what address to go to. Unless your site is mentioned somewhere on the normal web, with instructions, or is listed on an index of some sort that comes preinstalled with the software, the only visitors you'll get is ones you invited yourself. And for some of the sites, like the gun/slave trafficking or assassination ones, there are obvious real world logistics issues involved that the game skirts around. They're there to evoke a disturbing atmosphere and a feeling of unease. Just pretend it's a thing and don't think about it too much.