In this tutorial we're going to explain the differences between the two, and explain why you should host your services on the Darknet rather than the Clearnet.
The first clear difference you should be aware of is what you need to have a clearnet website, and a darknet website:
To self-host a Clearnet website, you need you need a home server, elecricity, an internet connection, to port forward the website somewhere (on your home router or on a paid VPS), to make it accessible from outside your network, and a clearnet domain which is also paid.
And on the other hand, to self-host a Darknet website, you need to have a home server, elecricity, and an internet connection. Simple, minimal, and way easier. You're only going to need to pay for your internet connection and elecricity consumption.
In other words, What can the adversary do, to take down my website ?
If you have a clearnet website, the attack surface is much much larger than that of a Darknet website, as the adversary can order the registrar to take down the clearnet domain, or they can order the cloud provider to take down the VPS, and since it is not anonymous by default, they can also just figure out where the real server is by busting down your door to harass you and your users. Just because your government didn't do that up until now doesn't mean they won't do it in the future when they pass new unjust laws.
And on the other hand, if your website was a Darknet one, your attack surface would be have been truly minimal. No way for the adversary to figure out where the server is, nor figure out where the users are, no third-party that they can suphoena (no cloud provider, no registrar). In this case, The adversary is forced to do some guess work to figure out where the server is.
As i have stated many times previously, every business out there is a potential proxy for a government to do their bidding. In the usecase where you are choosing to use the clearnet to publish your website, you, your website and your users are at the mercy of a government.
Take it from the point of view of a tyrannical government, isn't it very convenient for them to simply to make the authorities just send a mail to a business to order some the websites to be taken down ?
That is how it is when you are hosting websites on the clearnet, for tyrants, the identity of whoever hosts the website, and who their users are matters, because they want to know where to shoot when they want to harass someone for running (or using) a website online.
KYC procedures are all over the place whenever you want to have elecricity, an internet connection, a VPS, and a clearnet domain. With every KYC procedure that you complete, you are giving a tyrannical government another target for them to throw darts at you. In other words, you are increasing your attack surface, making yourself vulnerable for the adversary to reap the fruits of your misplaced trust, whenever they feel like the time is ripe.
Now let's address the elephant in the room, Search Engines. While it is true due to the sheer size of the centralisation business that the clearnet is that your website will have more visibility on the clearnet, rather than on darknet as things are currently. But if there were more users on the Darknet than there were on Clearnet, your website would have more visibility being on the Darknet in the same way. In the meantime, Darknet Search Engines are vital for the darknet use expansion.
After all, what kind of guy are you ? Are you seeking fame, profit, and governmental approval ? Or are you someone that is willing to sacrifice a little bit of fame, because you value your actions more than your public image? If you ask me, it doesn't matter who you are, what matters is what you do
To host a darknet website means that you don't care who your users are, nor are you letting your ego block the way of your actions, as what matters in the end is what you do.
I may be naïve, but i have faith that when enough people make the switch from clearnet to darknet like we are about to do on Nowhere.moe, we might one day make the internet a platform of freedom again.
The Darknet IS the ideal place to be, no matter how negatively it has been portrayed in the past by propagandists. Just because it is out of reach of governmental tyranny doesn't mean it should be demonized because of a few bad actors,
Should owning knives be demonized and be made illegal because a few serial killers have used them to cause harm to others ?
No, a tool is not to be blamed for the misuse of a perpetrating third-party.
Tor is a tool, and so is Monero, It is normal to use tools. It is not to be blamed because of a few bad actors.
nor should everyone keep making themselves vulnerable to governmental intervention on the clearnet. Leaving yourself vulnerable to harassment should not be considered normal, it will come back to bite you when your government decides to snap and make an example out of you when they decide that you're no longer fitting into their political dogmas.
Stay outside of governmental control by leaving the clearnet for good, and embracing the darknet instead. Just because you are on the darknet doesn't mean you need to do illegal activities either, It is a matter of remaining outside of tyranny first and foremost. If we are indeed heading for this free internet that i envision, it is only a matter of time until operational security eventually becomes common sense, and everyone joins in aswell.
We encourage you to do the same as we are doing. Leaving the clearnet behind, publicly stating to your users that from now on the only way to reach the website is via the Darknet, and eventually completely opting out of the centralisation industry. Instead, in the same way as xmrbazaar.com is out there trying to make the use of monero common-sense and normal, we should be making the use of Tor and Darknet as normal as it is to use the Clearnet, without demonizing it.
All that is needed is a little change of habits for you and your users, to learn how to use the Tor browser, and to learn how to use it safely. The Tor network also depends on the community, meaning people like you and me should run Tor nodes to keep the network alive, decentralized and well. I'm sure that if every Tor user was running a Tor node, the entire network would be at least 1000 times bigger. Everyone has a role to play, consider spending a few bucks every month to run a Tor node (on a VPS or not, it can also run from home)
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Contact: nihilist@contact.nowhere.moe (PGP)
