Thank god this one got saved. Had my fingers crossed when I clicked the link. Courtesy of Ghost Prototype, copypasta'd from the totse2 archives:
What is the deep web, and why is it important?The 'deepweb' is a term to describe internet services that aren't available or easily accessible to the public, generally requiring special software to access. They tend to rely on random peer-to-peer propagation of information, combined with strong encryption to allow people to network and share information anonymously, with some amount of deniability. These networks make it extremely difficult (though not impossible) to determine what anyone in particular is doing on these networks. For political advocates, reporters in hostile areas, revolutionaries, criminals, and anyone who values their privacy, the deepweb is beyond valuable. Though some of these networks allow users to access the regular internet, all of them focus on providing their own services, not able to be reached outside of the network. Three of the most popular means of accessing the deepweb are Freenet, I2P, and Tor.
*NOTE* this document contains information from a previous guide to .onion sites, as well as new information where applicable.
What is Tor?Tor is free software and an open network that helps you defend against a form of network surveillance that threatens personal freedom and privacy, confidential business activities and relationships, and state security known as traffic analysis. Tor can both work as an outproxy to access the internet anonymously, as well as operate on its own network, utilizing the .onion pseudo-top level domain name. Many services that exist on the regular, "clearnet" internet are available on the Tor network. By default, Tor works as a client only, but is not difficult to enable yourself as a router for the network, allowing other Tor users to connect through you to access .onion sites, or you can set yourself up as an exit node, to allow Tor users to connect to the rest of the internet through you. Some ISPs have issues with this, but if you work it out with them beforehand, so they know that's what you're doing, it should mitigate most issues with doing this before it happens.
What is Freenet?Freenet is a decentralized, encrypted network that allows you to anonymously browse and publish "freesites", which are websites that can only be accessed through Freenet. It stands out as having its own "darknet" mode - if there are people you trust on Freenet, you can choose to connect through them specifically, to ensure you're going through a node that isn't compromised. Freenet, like most networks, has its own forums, file sharing, and mail services. By default, Freenet users route traffic for other Freenet users. As of the time of this writing, I don't know of any reliable Freenet outproxies (most Freenet users recommend Tor for this anyway).
What is I2P?NOTE* most of this is a steaming pile of copypasta from the i2p website. It's done so well that I don't feel like attempting either improve or dumb it down.
I2P, also known as the Invisible Internet Project, is an anonymizing network, much like Freenet and Tor. All data is wrapped with several layers of encryption, and the network is both distributed and dynamic with no trusted parties. Many applications are available that interface with I2P, including mail, peer-peer, IRC chat, and others. Websites existing on the I2P network are called "eepsites", and require modifying a hosts file inside the I2P installation directory before the sites can be reached, as well as setting up a proxy connection within your browser.
The I2P project was formed in 2003 to support the efforts of those trying to build a more free society by offering them an uncensorable, anonymous, and secure communication system. I2P is a development effort producing a low latency, fully distributed, autonomous, scalable, anonymous, resilient, and secure network. The goal is to operate successfully in hostile environments - even when an organization with substantial financial or political resources attacks it. All aspects of the network are open source and available without cost, as this should both assure the people using it that the software does what it claims, as well as enable others to contribute and improve upon it to defeat aggressive attempts to stifle free speech.
I2P by default routes other I2P user traffic to their destinations within the I2P network, similar to Freenet. However, even though most peer-to-peer torrenting applications will not work right / will bog down the other networks, I2P was made to allow torrent traffic to flow without significantly impacting the network.
How do I access these networks?While my other guide on the .onion sites contains information on how to set up the Vidalia bundle, my best recommendation for Tor is to download either the Tor Browser or Tails - a 'live OS' built on Debian Linux, that boots from CD or USB, and is pre-configured to use both Tor and I2P. Freenet is not installed by default on Tails. I recommend the Tor Browser over modifying your current browser, as without modifying several settings and strict maintanence, your browser can and will leak personally identifyable information. It's generally harmless information, but if you're using these networks in a hostile environment, it's in your best interest to take every precaution available to you to not let any information about yourself out. The Tor Browser is preconfigured to not leak any information about you / your browser, disable tracking, forget histories, and altogether protect you. You can download the Tor Browser or the Tails live OS from torproject.org. Since Tor doesn't give you any sites to access from the get-go, some .onion links of interest will be pasted at the bottom of this document.
Freenet is simple to install and access. You download the Freenet software from freenetproject.org, install, and open localhost:8888 in your browser. This opens the Freenet configuration page, and has links to some sites of interest, including Linkageddon, a directory of essentially all Freesites, as well as the Freent Message System, Freemail, the official Freenet Forum, a Social Networking site called Sone, and the Freenet developer's blogs. There is tons more available at the main page as well, and more information will be added here as time goes on.
I2P is a little bit more complicated to get going. You download the software from I2P2.de, install, and then run the software. It should run in the background. To properly browse I2P, you should set up a proxy in your browser as:
HTTP Proxy: localhost Port: 4444
SSL Proxy: localhost Port: 4445
In Firefox, this is done by going to Preferences > Advanced > Network > Connection Setings. You can then access the I2P router console by going to localhost:7657
Once there, you'll have your network status listed at the left, and some news items related to the I2P network on the top of the page. If you scroll down, you'll find links to 'eepsites of interest', such as the development forum, FAQ, official I2P forum, and as I said with Freenet, more stuff than you'll know what to do with, and to be explained in further detail after I figure it all out ^_^
By default, you'll have ~130 sites in your I2P address book, that you'll be able to access from the browser. I'll give a quick run-down on how to add sites. When I was on the I2P IRC network (which I joined by pointing my IRC client to the server localhost/6668) I saw someone mention echelon.i2p. It wasn't in my address book, but I wanted to access it. So, I opened I2HOST lookup, which is at
http://i2host.i2p/cgi-bin/i2hostask. I entered echelon.i2p in the box, and hit submit. This gave me: echelon.i2p=w6zK9m4fqSfvJck9EGIR1wRIbWsEQ2DkjZ-VI57ESFqLqbTIA1cD5nOfSSbpELqPyhjifdrNiBNAsSdyil3C0 a2B7CGtwUcTS2dCG0tKf2nAbvpsbcCK17nI4Xbu5KqZU0y3hJ~ l7rcJqQBR0nfV5cU30ZDrpQV6VL875cihGlnmwLFq6qSzNcEb8 8Nw6wFG~FIgB2PJ6A3jJyuTnLrdiMvwqgD6nSyeOylOgBCsNxX h8-drrhASjladfNrwjlGRCZTiQ~H92HIyOwiabDiG3TUugMaFWs87 yuXnZ~ni9jgjoAMFo8xV8Od2BiRgCxkZoMU07FhgUjew9qtXNa 04wkexf3gx77nVPhqE0GHqCuwHwmBVf92RdYEys76u~akaOMq5 UhayDpCBCaHiYLkKDNqmh47tfMCwxf6z8VIcR4zv25QfJDIWPs ~RA~9U7m4raytiAs5PvYZBn4B3SqOL8XdkL9sDT54sQXbsYCJr 3olu6ieMtNWlmos0uohYXNUyAAAA
Copy and pasting this, I added it to a new line at the bottom of hosts.txt in my I2P installation directory. Voila! I now could go to echelon.i2p!
There is so much you can do with these networks, and even I am just now starting off learning about them. I'll be updating as I learn more, and will gladly including any comments or sections created by you all, as well as give props where applicable
Here are the .onion sites I promised:
http://kpvz7ki2v5agwt35.onion/wiki/index.php/Main_PageThe Hidden Wiki - probably the most resourceful .onion site about the Tor network. Contains hundreds of links to sites, including a Marketplaces, Financial Services, Commercial Services, Web and File Hosting, Blogging, Forums, Imageboards, Emailing and Instand Messaging, Political Advocacy, Hacking, Erotica, and much more.
http://xmh57jrzrnw6insl.onion/TORCH, a Tor search engine.
http://eqt5g4fuenphqinx.onion/Core .onion, a tor site directory, and includes talk.Masked, one of the earlier message boards on the Tor network.
http://4jbxjjrbakmdcmvb.onion/TorMarks, another tor site directory
http://silkroadvb5piz3r.onion/The famous Silk Road - a bitcoins-only marketplace for buying drugs and other items.
http://p2uekn2yfvlvpzbu.onion/LiberaTor - A collection of downloadable PDFs on weapons and military training information
http://jhiwjjlqpyawmpjx.onionTormail for a free and anon email account. Email accounts through Tormail are accessable in the clearnet, by sending email to yourname@tormail.org
http://4eiruntyxxbgfv7o.onionTorPM for secure Messaging on the Tor network
Deepweb guide 0.2
-- onion sites --
As of this posting (6/3/14), some of these may be defunct. If any are, let me know and I'll mark em as such or remove them. Removed defunct silk road url.
Courtesy of alepx in the same thread:
Introduction: This is the entrance to the .onion network. It links off to talk.masked and TORDIRCore.onion
http://eqt5g4fuenphqinx.onionDirectory: There are multiple directories in Tor, but my personal favorite is TORDIRdue to it's fast speeds and many links.
http://dppmfxaacucguzpc. onion/
Search engine: A search engine (i.e. Google) forTor. It's claim to fame is that it indexes over 600,000pages so far.
TORCH-
http://xmh57jrzrnw6insLonion/Drugs: There are TONSof drug dealer on the deepweb, but here are my favorite services. I've used some and they're great
BlackMarket Reloaded (Mainly fordrugs, but has some other stuff)-
http://53uaiidvqdizfqia.omon/Anon Supply -
http://xqz3u5dmeuzhaeo.onion/users/anonsupply/Bitcoin: These are the best services forBitcoin, a decentralized online Anonymous currencyused by many Tor services.
Bitcoin2CC (Convert Bitccoins to your VISAcredit card)-
http://tgmipfhxbrc413o3.omon/Bitcoin4Cash (Buy bitcoins)-
http://vrns43o4cqysakvyb.onion/The Bitcoin Washing Machine -
http://xqz3u5drneuzhaeo.omon/users/corydolt/Hosting services - Hosts files.
ImgZapr (Hosts images, i.e. imageshack)-
http://4eiruntyxxbgfv7o.onion/imgzapr/qPasteBin (Hosts .txt files, i.e. pastebin)-
http://4eiruntyxxbgfv7o.onion/paste/sTORage (Infamous for CP, however, it's moderated now. Files can be placed in directories)-
http://utowyhaflle76gh.onion/Freedom Hosting (Hosts a large amount of .onion sites, was recently attacked by Anonymous)-
http://xqz3u5drneuzhaeo.onion/Blogging (No explanation needed)
TorStatusNet (Twitter clone forTor)-
http://lotjbov3gzzf23hc.onion/There's lots of these you can find, 1won't post them.
Chans: Similar to 4chan and the likes. MAY CONTAIN QUESTIONABLE CONTENT!!! Be careful
Anonchan (New chan made sometime in the beginning of 2011/11. It's excellent so far. No moderation, but no CPas of yet)-
http://od6j46sy5zg7aqze.onion/Hidden Image Site (Closely moderated for CP)-
http://wyxwerboi3awzy23.onion/Forums: No image posting, mainly fordiscussion.
Talk.masked (Famous forum board on the deepweb)-
http://ci3hn2uzjw2wby3z.onion/Onionforum 2.0-
http://65bgvta7yos3sce5.onion/SnapBBS Boards: Message boards hosted by SnapBBS. There's hundreds of these but here are some good ones.
SnapBBS (Create your own board HERE)-
http://4eiruntyxxbgfv7o.onion/snapbbs/Onion Site Reviews -
http://4eiruntyxxbgfv7o.onion/snapbbs/5112d4d2/Assassination Market -
http://4eiruntyxxbgfv7o.onion/snapbbs/1acda566/Underground Market Board -
http://4eiruntyxxbgfv7o.onion/snapbbs/1b82f13e/TorTSE (infamous board which has existed since the late 80s)-
http://4eiruntyxxbgfv7o.onion/snapbbs/260fa043/Networking
TorPM (Private Messaging Service)-
http://4eiruntyxxbgfv7o.onion/pm/Tor Mail (Email service)-
http://jhiwjjlqpyawmpjx.onion/Torbook (Facebook forTor)-
http://ajqaivfxtqy3fdlr.onion/torbook/Haxors: Lots of different services forgeneral chaos. Viruses, warez, etc.
CC4ALL (Sells valid credit cards forBitcoins)-
http://qhkt6cqo2dfs2llt.onion/hashparty (Password cracking site)-
http://3terbsb5mmmdyhse,onion/
HackBB (Forums fortechnology;hacking)-
http://clsvtzwzdgzkjda7.onion/HavocNet (Recipes fordestruction)-
http://u2pdlcc3s7wkza6z.onion/Weird and Wonderful Old Stuff (DOSand original Windows software !)-
http://xqz3u5dmeuzhaeo.onion/users/dosbox2/Books: Most Video, audio, etc links are dead. Tor's main focus forthe arts is focused around ebooks.
The Tor Library (36 GBof content!!!)-
http://am4wuhz3zifexz5u.onion/LiberaTor (Weapons, military, anarchy, DIY, etc)- http.7/p2uekn2yfvlvpzbu.onion/
Some random good shit I'm not going to describe any of it. I can confirm it is safe to go on, and most of ityou can infer by the title.
The Human Experiment -
http://xqz3u5drneuzhaeo.onion/users/experiments/Beneath Virginia Tech -
http://74ypjqjwf6oejmax.onion/ELIZA-
http://nel2xugswcy7qv7r.omon/
