Investigator Lonnie Bishop with the Buchanan County Sheriff’s Office Cyber Crimes and Criminal Analysis Unit, said the dark web is mostly used for illegal activities, including illicit drugs, prostitution, human trafficking and gun running. The dark web is a part of the Internet where users need special software to access it.
Bishop said the dark web puts people behind a cloak. And if someone doesn’t understand the dark web, he or she may be less likely to go after it, Bishop said. When law enforcement needs search warrants approved, he said it’s imperative to explain to prosecutors and judges why people like to use the dark web.
“When we go in and ask for something like a search warrant on a particular person, we have very known information. And sometimes with the dark web we don’t have that exact information,” Bishop said.
The U.S. military and government use the dark web, too, he said. Bishop isn’t aware of any recent local cases involving the dark web.
“We’ve seen some people try to dabble in it but it takes some level of sophistication to set it up and to get that software connected,” Bishop said.
In a 2015 Congressional Research Service report, Kristin Finklea, a specialist in domestic security, said that while tools aim to anonymize content and activity on the dark web, security experts are continuously developing new ways to identify individuals.
The report also stated that law enforcement can sometimes rely upon criminal to make mistakes.
Bishop describes the Internet as the ocean, and regular web browsing as a ship riding on the surface of the water. Whereas the dark web, he said, would require a scuba suit to go underneath. He said it’s not impossible to catch criminals on the dark web.
“It’s difficult and it takes a little bit longer but it’s not impossible,” Bishop said.
Last month, federal authorities arrested a California man for distributing cocaine and marijuana on a drug-selling site and dark web markets, the Associated Press reported.
Social media, while not as challenging as the dark web, also presents challenges for law enforcement.
“Most people, if they have one social media account, they have several social media accounts. Some people even have several social media accounts under several different aliases,” Bishop said. “The challenge for us is to find all those aliases and find out which ones they’re using.”
Bishop said finding those aliases takes time. Through legal action, law enforcement can get a lot of information from social media sites like Facebook, Facebook Messenger and Twitter.
He encourages parents to be involved with their kids when it comes to social media and phone apps.
“I’m not saying invade their privacy, I’m just saying be involved in what’s going on with your kids’ lives,” Bishop said. “That’s one of the best ways to stop those things. ... If someone sends a bomb threat or something as a prank, that’s going to send us into high mode and we’re going to have to research all of this.”
©2016 the St. Joseph News-Press (St. Joseph, Mo.) Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.
