New Horizons: The Darkest Web

When it comes to the online realm, there’s the world wide web – the internet we all know. Then there’s the dark web – the parallel internet accessed by only a relative few.

Illicit drugs for sale, poisons aplenty, weapons to go, identity thieves, hackers and worse... Do you dare to look inside the dangerous world that lurks beneath the bright, friendly light of your internet screen?

Lawyer, journalist and author Eileen Ormsby has spent the past five years probing every corner of the dark web. Usually, those it connects wish to remain anonymous for good reason. On occasions, Eileen’s dark web sleuthing seeps into the real world. She has shopped in darknet markets. She has attended trials, meeting with criminals and the law enforcers who tracked them down. She has interviewed dark web identities and visited them in prison.

Eileen’s first book, Silk Road was the world's first in-depth exposé of the black markets that operate on the dark web. In her latest book, The Darkest Web: Drugs Death and Destroyed Lives… The Inside Story of the Internet’s Evil Twin, Eileen’s gonzo-style investigations lead her deep into the secretive corners of the darknet’s underbelly, a place of hitmen for hire, red rooms, hurtcore sites and markets that will move anything anyone is willing to sell or buy – even another person.

Eileen takes us through the evolution of the dark web – from its early days as Silk Road – the first point'n'click mass marketed illegal drugs bazaar to its more recent and sinister incarnations. From dark, to darker to darkest, she shines a light into the murkiest depths of this mysterious and disturbing world. Find out how the dark web works in layman’s terms, how its clandestine communities operate and what authorities are doing to combat online illegal activity. At first, police were dismissive of her claims, now the FBI relies on her intel.

Bring along your unabashed questions and be prepare to have your eyes opened during this fascinating and chilling talk moderated by The Saturday Paper editor Maddison Connaughton. You may never be able to shut them again.

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