THEA150 A05 – PUBLIC SPEAKING

Date: March 2nd 2021

Name: Alexander Frieson-Chan

Informative Speech on the “Dark Web”

Specific Purpose: Inform my audience on the Dark Web’s existence and its potential dangers.

Thesis: I will invite you to assess the risks associated with the Dark Web and its existence within
the internet. In addition to consider its significance and the role it plays within internet culture.

Introduction

Attention: One night, I was watching a Youtuber I was fond of, Etika. He was streaming himself
surfing the Dark Web, and reacting to the atrocities and disturbing content that it contained. For
the morbidly curious, it was a fun enjoyable experience… until the next day, he received a phone
call from an unknown number threatening him. It said: “I know where you are.” He was visibly
shaken up, as he kept his phone number & address private and has been extremely careful not
revealing anything publicly. That’s when I realized I underestimated the severity of the Dark
Web.

Reveal Topic: Life for millennials and generation Z has fused with existence on the internet. Yet
very little people know of the Dark web. The Dark Web is a network, that lies within something
called the Deep Web. What that essentially means, is that it can’t be indexed or searched through
any search engine. The Conference Board of Canada reported that the Deep Web covers a fast
amount of the internet, things like private business, academic institutions, governments have
their place on the Deep Web. In fact, in your mind right now guess how much of the internet is
made up of the “Deep Web.” Let a guess formulate in your mind. It’s 99%.

Credibility: I decided to conduct research through the UVIC academic journal database and
found some information, there was a compendium of articles that I managed to organize and
condense here.

Preview: Now that I’ve researched this topic, I’ll share with you some of my findings, and finally
invite you to mentally weigh the risks, and understand the format of the Dark Web.

Body

1. The book “Hands-on Dark Web Analysis” by Retzkin explained that separate discrete
networks layer the Deep Web, only accessible to specifically designed browsers and software.
This makes the IP addresses that connect to the Deep Web untraceable.

2. Those who access the Dark Web can surf and post anonymously, naturally leading it to be a
cyber space for criminals. Ozkaya & Islam, in their book: “Inside the Dark Web” documented
massive online markets that specialize in selling illegal materials and services are extensive on
the Dark web, things like selling drugs, weapons, and even assassinations. The transactions are
done through cryptocurrency, so yet again it is untraceable. The most commonly used, and
strongest cryptocurrency is Bitcoin, where 1B lists at 59 thousand Canadian dollars.
THEA150 A05 – PUBLIC SPEAKING
Date: March 2nd 2021
Name: Alexander Frieson-Chan

3. Despite your access being private- newcomers can accidentally give away their information,
either through a phishing site or a virus that is commonly present on the web. This is one of the
major dangers that can befall you, even things such as changing the size of your browser window
can give away your location. (Source: Tors Browser)

Conclusion

Summary: We have discussed what the Dark Web is, how it functions under the Deep Web, and
what its purpose is. You now know the potential risks that are highly probable under navigation
of the Dark Web. If you find yourself in a circumstance going into the Dark Web, or have a
friend that is, this small speech can be the first step in keeping you safe and private on the
internet.

Closing: The chances are, everyone listening to this connects to the internet every single day. I
hoped that this speech helped inform you of another section of the internet that isn’t widely
discussed.

Transition

Understanding this information, I would like to invite some thoughts, comments and questions.

References

https://www-conferenceboard-ca.ezproxy.library.uvic.ca/e-Library/abstract.aspx?did=7763

Retzkin, S. (2018). Hands-on Dark Web analysis: Learn what goes on in the Dark Web, and how
to work with it. Birmingham ; Mumbai: Packt.

Ozkaya, E., & Islam, R. (2019). Inside the dark web. Boca Raton, FL: CRC Press.