# Where is the data on the dark web stored?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-is-the-data-on-the-dark-web-stored/649681>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [February 8, 2013, 5:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-is-the-data-on-the-dark-web-stored/649681 "2013-02-08T05:59:12Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 3\
**Page:** 2

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**Author:** ![LinusK](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/258eb7/32.png) [@LinusK](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LinusK)\
**Post date:** [February 11, 2013, 5:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-is-the-data-on-the-dark-web-stored/649681/21 "2013-02-11T05:06:40Z")

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> [@snailboy](#):
>
> How about a different analogy? You have a group of people with some people looking for information and some people offering information. The people offering information don’t want to make it clear to everyone what they’re offering because it’s illegal information and the same with the people looking for information. So you write a message with a certain request for information and give it to a random person. Unless that person happens to be the person with the information, they will then give the message to a random other person, and so on. Eventually the message makes its way to the person with the information, so they write a response and give it back to the person who handed it to them, as does everyone else until it gets back to you. No one who passes the message has anyway of knowing if the person they received it from is actually the person who wrote the message or just another person passing it along, and they can’t know if the person they give it to is the intended recipient or just someone that’s going to pass it further along. Still, you asked for certain information and it came back from the person who was supposed to respond, even though you don’t know who that person is and he doesn’t know who you are.

Which means every single person on the network knows what’s in the message, which is the opposite of “not making it clear what you’re offering”.

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**Author:** ![snailboy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/97f17d/32.png) [@snailboy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/snailboy)\
**Post date:** [February 11, 2013, 5:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-is-the-data-on-the-dark-web-stored/649681/22 "2013-02-11T05:54:53Z")

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> [@LinusK](#):
>
> Which means every single person on the network knows what’s in the message, which is the opposite of “not making it clear what you’re offering”.

What does it matter? If you have evidence of a drug deal going down but have no idea who it is or where they will be, do they need to be worried about it?

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**Author:** ![snailboy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/97f17d/32.png) [@snailboy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/snailboy)\
**Post date:** [February 11, 2013, 6:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-is-the-data-on-the-dark-web-stored/649681/23 "2013-02-11T06:08:39Z")

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Also, if it’s really needed that the message not be read despite it’s source and destination not being known, application-level encryption can be used. Basically the message is encrypted so that the people in the middle can’t read it and only the writer and intended recipient know how to decode it, despite that they’ve never met each other.

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