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Onions Rot, Freesites Get Forgotten, and Eepsites Disappear

Explore the challenges faced in researching the history of the Dark Web, including the disappearance of eepsites and freenets, forgotten freesites, and the anonymity of site creators.

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Onions Rot, Freesites Get Forgotten, and Eepsites Disappear

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  1. The Challenges of Dark Web Historical Research Robert W. Gehl University of Utah www.robertwgehl.org Onions Rot, Freesites Get Forgotten, and Eepsites Disappear

  2. Research Questions • What was the first "eepsite"? • When did it appear? • What was it about?

  3. Challenges • No archive.org for Freenet, Tor, I2P • Eepsites and Tor Hidden Services disappear • Freesites are "forgotten" • Makers of sites go by pseudonyms • Makers of sites don't think of what they do as "history"

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  10. What do we learn? • TC.i2p one of the first eepsites • Online in mid-Nov. 2003, ~5 months into the project • PHP-based forum • Probably developers • Test site • TC also built hosts.txt – major development in I2P history

  11. Why is this important? • Importation of forum/BB software onto anonymous network • Server-side scripting (PHP) enabled • TC.i2p remains in many current hosts.txt files – accumulative logic?

  12. What are we missing? • Content of the site! • Developer/"off topic" ratio • Who was TC? • There is a "Tom Cranbrook" who was involved with I2P early on • The same info for Freenet, Tor

  13. The Challenges of Dark Web Historical Research Robert W. Gehl University of Utah www.robertwgehl.org Onions Rot, Freesites Get Forgotten, and Eepsites Disappear

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