Quote:
Originally Posted by screwballl
darknet = illegal file sharing or download of illegal material by almost any method.
Comes from "dark side of the internet"
|
Darknet doesn't mean "illegal file sharing;" it means the not-public side of the internet, which includes illegal activity, but also includes paid private activity, and restricted-access activity.
It originally referred to web content that was invisible to search engines, or "out of the spotlight."
It's come to be widely used to refer to filesharing and hacking sites, and by extension, things like "sneakernet"--transfer of files by carrying a data-storage device from one computer to another. (These days, broadband is faster, but not long ago, it was often quicker to drive 20 miles with a zip drive to give someone a Linux boot CD than it was for them to download it.)