The Dark Net

Beyond the familiar online world that most of us inhabit, a world of Google, Hotmail, Facebook and Amazon, lies a vast and often hidden network of sites, communities and cultures where freedom is pushed to its limits to be anything, and where people can be anyone, or do anything, they want. A world that is as creative and complex as it is dangerous and disturbing. A world that is much closer than you think. The Dark Net is not a separate realm, but one that stretches from popular social media sites to the most secretive corners of the deep web. It is a world that is rarely out of the news but one that is little understood - and almost never explored. In The Dark Net, Jamie Bartlett reveals what we are capable of when we're shielded by the computer screen, and presents a revelatory portrait of the internet's strangest subcultures: of trolls and pornographers, drug dealers and hackers, political extremists and computer scientists, bitcoin programmers and self-harmers, libertarians and vigilantes. Based on extensive first-hand experience, exclusive interviews and shocking documentary evidence, The Dark Net offers a startling glimpse of human nature under the conditions of freedom and anonymity, and shines a light on an enigmatic and ever-changing world for the very first time.