The Digital Revolution
Lisa Zhao, RH104, Professor Parfitt, Multimodal Essay
July 2, 2021
The Digital Revolution symbolizes the 21st century. The world has rapidly changed by the occurrence of technology, which follows by the possible dangers of technology. In the 21st century, humans completely rely on technology on daily basis. Phones and computers store most of the information of everyone. They store all the passwords for credit and debit cards, social media accounts, or personal school accounts. In this convenient era due to the emergency of technology, people do not even need to type in the password to purchase products on Amazon. The computer will memorize all the personal information including password, card number, and billing address. People only need to press one button called “buy now” to purchase items they want. How do we know the computer can protect our personal information, including passwords, search history, and address? The answer is we do not know. In fact, people should not trust anything on the internet. The internet is deeper and more sophisticated than people can imagine. The internet is affecting people’s lives in a negative way because it can harm privacy, personal safety issue, and laws that protect the globe from chaos.
The digital revolution does not mean the world has evolved into a better world. In fact, there are numerous issues created by the internet that affect people’s daily lives globally. The dark web is one of the major issues that need to be solved as soon as possible. The dark web is very dangerous and invisible to most of the people on earth. Therefore, most people do not know its severity and power that secretly escaping the legal sanctions and changing the world. The picture is depicting the internet as a huge piece of ice in the middle of the ocean. What most people can see is the tiny part of the ice above the sea surface, which is the common websites such as Google and Facebook that most people use.[1] Below the sea surface, the deep web consists of information that should be private to the public such as medical records or legal documents.[1] The dark web is the most hidden part of the ice that most people do not know its existence.[1] The dark web is not controlled under the law or the government. Therefore, countless illegal trades such as illicit drugs, rare animal parts, hacking services, and murder exist in the darb web’s black market. Ivory, python, and bear’s paws are common products on the black market of the darknet.[2] According to Preace, 40 dollars can purchase someone’s password. More money can cause the bankruptcy of a company.[3] Our privacies are worthless on the dark web. One of the most inhumane illegal trades that happened in the dark net is human trafficking. Recently, there was news about selling pornography during life on the dark web that makes the term dark web more exposed to the globe.
The news title is called “The Nth Room case and modern slavery in the digital space.[4]” This cybersex crime or the Nth room case happened in 2020 in South Korea. The goal of the criminals is to fraud and force female victims online to take various sexually abused videos and child pornography and put them on the Internet for sale. The youngest female victim is only eleven years old, and there are 74 female victims in total.[4] In addition, the audience of the Room Number N has reached 260,000; more than 220 people are accused of a digital sex crime.[4] Meanwhile, non of the audiences report the crime to the police.[4] The Nth room is secretly embedded into the Telegram App.[4] After the victim downloads the App, the criminals will ask the victims to provide their bank account, address, and telephone number.[4] Then, the anonymous users on Telegraph will receive an encrypted message sent from the criminals to invite them to the chat room.[4] If the victims revolt against the criminals, they will be warned that their privacy and sexually abused videos will spread to the public and family.[4]
Even though it is 2021, there are numerous people who cannot handle the temptation of money and reputation and get caught in the trap of anonymous imposters. The internet suddenly becomes evil and insecure because it perfectly hides the location and identity of the criminals on the internet. The dark web is more unique because every user is anonymous on the dark web. The dark web protects users’ privacy successfully. Hence, illegal trade can exist on the dark web. According to Dr. James Martin’s ted talk, the dark web benefits society because it begins the age of fair trade. Dr. Martin believes that the dark web can open a door for people who immediately need medical support such as kidney transplants or illicit drugs that can save lives.[5] According to The Double-Edged Sword of the Dark Web, more than 100,000 patients every year need transplantable organs, and 10 percent of patients on the waitlist will die. The dark web can cover 5 to 10 percent of the kidney transplant market, which saves abundant people’s lives.[6] Dr. Martin addresses that the dark web is similar to Amazon or eBay.[5] Consumers can rate and comment on the products and also find the original producer of illicit drugs on the darknet.[5] According to the customer feedbacks of the drugs, more than 97 percent of drugs have 4 to 5 stars ratings out of 5 stars.[5] Since the darknet owns numerous items and competitions, Dr. Martin believes that it is essential to have a brand.[5] Then, people can compare each brand’s price, quality, ethics, and other aspects.[5] In Dr.Martin’s opinion, the dark web creates the age of fair trade in the 21st century.[5] The dark web can help people to escape the sanction of laws and purchase any items they want.[5] However, there are countless drawbacks to view the dark web as a place where people can trade equally.
Fairtrade does not exist in the dark web because nobody can trace where the drugs go. Meanwhile, the darknet is a hidden website that most people do not have access to the website; some people are illiterate and unable to use the computer correctly. Therefore, the accessibility of the darknet only is available to a small group of people, including professional hackers and technicians. Since the darknet is an anonymous website, the specific location and the identity of the users are hidden by the website. Therefore, illicit drugs can be very perilous products that shuttle into the entire society. There are possibilities that innocent people will get addicted to drugs that would also influence a group of people nearby. Obviously, drugs can easily destroy the future of a family.
Animal extinction has always been one of the most essential global issues and responsibilities that humans have to take responsibility for. Many innocent animals extinct because humans desire to gain wealth in exchange for innocent animals’ lives. Although most places on earth successfully protected endangered animals, the darknet promotes more people to do animal poaching. According to the article called “Assessing the extent and nature of wildlife trade on the dark web”, the research team logged in to the dark web and found numerous parts of rare animals trading on the dark web.[2] The products include elephant ivory, ox bones, and illegal drugs.[2] Numerous animals parts are selling on the darknet because the darknet can perfectly hide the information of the poachers.[2] Therefore, the internet has brought the possibility of animal poaching back to society. Unfortunately, the poachers are hiding under the protection of the darknet, which is a more difficult task for police officers to find.
Does the digital revolution means human are “transcending” and breaking the biological limit? According to this essay, the internet is a place where numerous illegal trades happen everyday. The detriments of the internet or technology are far beyong our imagination. Humans do live in a more convenient lives because of technology. However, humans losts essential essences because of technology. Humans are becoming more individualistic in this digital society. Everyone is anonymous on the internet. Therefore, some people do not take responsibilities of their actions. Perhaps, the society before the occurrence of technology is more peaceful and heart-warming. Everyone knows each other by their real name instead of anonymity.
Endnotes
[1]Salvus staff, What is the dark web? Photograph, Salvus, August 1, 2019,
[2] Harrison Joseph, David L Roberts, and Julio Hernandez-Castro. “Assessing the extent and
nature of wildlife trade on the dark web,” Conversation Biology 30, no. 8(2016):
900–904.
https://conbio-onlinelibrary-wiley-com.ezproxy.bu.edu/doi/epdf/10.1111/cobi.12707
[3]Alan Preace, “The Dark Web,” TEDxBrighton, December 25, 2014, TEDx Talks, 12:59,
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Va07q3HFEZQ
[4]Nicole Souze, “The Nth Room Case and Modern Slavery in the Digital Space,” The Interpreter, 20 Apr, 2020,
www.lowyinstitute.org/the-interpreter/nth-room-case-and-modern-slavery-digital-space.
[5]James Martin, “The Brighter Side of Darknet Drug Dealing,” April 10th, 2018,
TEDxMelbourne, 10:39, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hv-E7naLBq8
[6] Akbarialiabad, H., Dalfardi, B. & Bastani, B. “The Double-Edged Sword of the Dark Web: Its
Implications for Medicine and Society.” J GEN INTERN MED 35, 3346–3347 (2020).
Bibliography
Akbarialiabad, H., Dalfardi, B. & Bastani, B. “The Double-Edged Sword of the Dark Web: Its
Implications for Medicine and Society.” J GEN INTERN MED 35, 3346–3347 (2020).
https://doi-org.ezproxy.bu.edu/10.1007/s11606-020-05911-1
Blackmoreops staff. Dark web content. Photograph. Blackmoreops. December 27, 2018.
https://www.blackmoreops.com/2018/12/27/how-to-access-dark-web/
Joseph, Harrison, David L Roberts, and Julio Hernandez-Castro. “Assessing the extent and
nature of wildlife trade on the dark web.” Conversation Biology 30, no. 8(2016):
900–904.
https://conbio-onlinelibrary-wiley-com.ezproxy.bu.edu/doi/epdf/10.1111/cobi.12707
Martin, James. “The Brighter Side of Darknet Drug Dealing.” April 10th, 2018.
TEDxMelbourne, 10:39. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hv-E7naLBq8
Preace, Alan. “The Dark Web.” TEDxBrighton. December 25, 2014. TEDx Talks, 12:59.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Va07q3HFEZQ
Salvus staff. What is the dark web? Photograph. Salvus. August 1, 2019.
https://salvustg.com/dark-web/
Welch, Michael. A Sobering Look at the MeToo Movement in South Korea. Photograph. Fighting
Stripe. Dec 6, 2020. https://www.fightingstripes.com/articles/mylifeisnotyourporn