The Role of the Dark Web in the Crime and Terrorism Nexus

On November 15, 2018 the Canadian Association for Security and Intelligence Studies (CASIS) Vancouver hosted its tenth roundtable meeting which covered “The Role of the dark web in the Crime and Terrorism Nexus.” The presentation was hosted by Dr. Richard Frank, an assistant professor in the School of Criminology at Simon Fraser University, as well as the Director of the International CyberCrime Research Centre (ICCRC). In the presentation, Dr. Frank began by explaining the operations of the dark web, and then moved on to discuss why the dark web cannot just be shut down, as well as actions law enforcement (policing) could take in order to counter the activities on the dark web. The subsequent roundtable discussion opened with an analysis of the operations of Silk Road, an online marketplace on the dark web that specializes in the sale of illegal drugs, weapons, and stolen identities. The topics of interest in the discussion were the effects of internet-based trade of illicit goods on organized crime and local drug markets, in addition to whether the dark web can be used constructively.