The Dark Web

We have seen in the news of late the man who had become radicalised by right wing extremists. This is quite frightening, as it apparently happened over the course of three weeks.

I work with lots of men who live in isolation: lots of them are quite vulnerable, and the thought of them coming into contact with these puppet-masters is quite frightening. But this is not an isolated incident, of course; it happens in all communities, targeting the vulnerable, the disenfranchised and the lonely. Give them something to rally around such as nationalism, or religion and make them feel wanted, part of something, needed.

I have heard in the past about something called the dark web. This, I have been told, is where anything is available and anything goes. I thought that was just the web? I'm starting to loathe the internet, even though it is a fantastic tool.

The use of cookies by fraudsters leaves certain members of our community open to all sorts of exploitation. My wife likes to look up clothing items on the net and the amount of emails she receives telling her of the next best deal and exclusive offer is frightening. I, too, have recently received a couple of emails which were not only pathetic but also quite scary. I received emails from some dubious dating agency, which looked more like an exploitation agency I found it quite difficult to get these emails stopped. How they got my details is annoying to say the least, but I have a website and a blog, so I suppose it's not that difficult.

But what if someone had received these emails and had contacted them. I'm sure they are just some sort of scam, but a lonely person might think it was a way to find love. I'm sure they would soon find their bank balance disappear.

It has now become a bit of a minefield when it comes to booking a holiday, as the fraudsters have also moved in there too. There have been a string of sites set up, looking like the real McCoy, only to be offering non-existent deals. These sites are very difficult to spot, as you do receive confirmation emails and vouchers from them when you book with them, only finding out the fraud when you arrive at your destination!

My granddaughter likes to watch certain programmes on Youtube when she sleeps over at our house. One of then is quite good in one sense as it openly encourages play. Except for the grating American accents it is quite a good idea, until you realise that they are promoting the latest toys of one of the major corporations. She also watches channels where young girls try out products that they have been given for free and promote them to the poor unsuspecting children. I have great problems with these things but my wife claims they are just harmless. I disagree.

My Granddaughter is only five years old and these videos are often made by the fathers of these children and again, it all smacks again of exploitation. I know that there is lots of money to be made in this industry and some of these children have become stars in their own right, with millions of children following them.

So whatever the dark web is, it must be where people think they can't be caught, because I think you could already buy whatever you wanted on the internet. We are now so dependent on this monster that I don't think the world could work without it at this moment. Now that really is frightening!