An Exploration of Public Opinion About the Dark Web - CANCELLED

• In Event: Online Discourse, Technology, and Public Understandings of Criminality

Abstract

The dark web, a portion of the internet where anonymity reigns supreme, hosts many different behaviors, both licit and illicit. While created in early 2000, there remains a dearth of information on public perceptions of the dark web. Does the public view there are legitimate uses for it? Should it be shut down? It is a breeding ground for criminals? Using newly collected data on a national sample of more than 1,000 adults in the U.S., we explore these aspects of public opinion regarding the dark web and how such opinions might vary between users and non-users of the dark web.

Authors

• Raymond D. Partin, University of Alabama

• Peter S. Lehmann, Sam Houston State University

• Ryan Charles Meldrum, Florida Atlantic University