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:''This defunct hosting site is not related to Freedom Hosting Pty Ltd, which is operating in Australia.'' Freedom Hosting is a defunct Tor specialist
web hosting service A web hosting service is a type of Internet hosting service that hosts websites for clients, i.e. it offers the facilities required for them to create and maintain a site and makes it accessible on the World Wide Web. Companies providing web ...
that was established in 2008. At its height in August 2013, it was the largest Tor web host.


Anonymous denial-of-service attack

In 2011, Anonymous launched Operation Darknet, an anti-
child pornography Child pornography (also called CP, child sexual abuse material, CSAM, child porn, or kiddie porn) is pornography that unlawfully exploits children for sexual stimulation. It may be produced with the direct involvement or sexual assault of a ...
effort against activities on the dark web. One of the largest sites,
Lolita City Lolita City was a child pornography website that used hidden services available through the Tor (anonymity network), Tor network. The site hosted images and videos of underage males and females ranging up to 17 years of age (18 is the Age_of_cons ...
, hosted by Freedom Hosting, was
Denial-of-service attack In computing, a denial-of-service attack (DoS attack) is a cyber-attack in which the perpetrator seeks to make a machine or network resource unavailable to its intended users by temporarily or indefinitely disrupting services of a host conn ...
ed (DDoS), and later had its member list leaked following a
SQL injection In computing, SQL injection is a code injection technique used to attack data-driven applications, in which malicious SQL statements are inserted into an entry field for execution (e.g. to dump the database contents to the attacker). SQL in ...
attack, as was The Hidden Wiki which linked to it.


Federal investigation

News reports linked a
Firefox Mozilla Firefox, or simply Firefox, is a free and open-source web browser developed by the Mozilla Foundation and its subsidiary, the Mozilla Corporation. It uses the Gecko rendering engine to display web pages, which implements current ...
browser vulnerability to a United States
Federal Bureau of Investigation The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) is the domestic intelligence and security service of the United States and its principal federal law enforcement agency. Operating under the jurisdiction of the United States Department of Justice, ...
(FBI) operation targeting Freedom Hosting's owner, Eric Eoin Marques. In August 2013, it was discovered that the
Firefox Mozilla Firefox, or simply Firefox, is a free and open-source web browser developed by the Mozilla Foundation and its subsidiary, the Mozilla Corporation. It uses the Gecko rendering engine to display web pages, which implements current ...
browsers in many older versions of the Tor Browser Bundle were vulnerable to a
JavaScript JavaScript (), often abbreviated as JS, is a programming language that is one of the core technologies of the World Wide Web, alongside HTML and CSS. As of 2022, 98% of websites use JavaScript on the client side for webpage behavior, of ...
attack, as
NoScript NoScript (or NoScript Security Suite) is a free software extension for Mozilla Firefox, SeaMonkey, other Mozilla-based web browsers and Google Chrome, written and maintained by Giorgio Maone, an Italian software developer and member of the Mozi ...
was not enabled by default. This attack was being exploited to send users' MAC and IP addresses and Windows computer names to the attackers. The FBI acknowledged they were responsible for the attack in a September 12, 2013 court filing in
Dublin Dublin (; , or ) is the capital and largest city of Ireland. On a bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the province of Leinster, bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, a part of the Wicklow Mountains range. At the 2016 c ...
; further technical details from a training presentation leaked by Edward Snowden showed that the codename for the exploit was EgotisticalGiraffe. Marques was arrested in Ireland on August 1, 2013, on a provisional extradition warrant issued by a United States court on the 29th of July that year. The FBI sought to extradite Marques to Maryland on four charges — distributing, conspiring to distribute, and advertising
child pornography Child pornography (also called CP, child sexual abuse material, CSAM, child porn, or kiddie porn) is pornography that unlawfully exploits children for sexual stimulation. It may be produced with the direct involvement or sexual assault of a ...
 — as well as aiding and abetting advertising of child pornography. The warrant alleges that Marques was "the largest facilitator of child porn on the planet". His attorneys fought for several years to prevent his extradition to the United States on the grounds that he had
Asperger syndrome Asperger syndrome (AS), also known as Asperger's, is a former neurodevelopmental disorder characterized by significant difficulties in social interaction and nonverbal communication, along with restricted and repetitive patterns of beha ...
, and would not receive the appropriate care in a US prison, if extradited. In December 2016, the Irish Court of Appeal ruled the extradition should proceed. This was not the end of his appeal process, however, and his lawyers announced they would make a new appeal to the Supreme Court. This appeal was dismissed by the Irish Supreme Court on March 20, 2019. Marques faced life in prison if tried and convicted in the United States. On February 6, 2020, Marques pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to advertise child abuse images, as part of a plea agreement that would entail a prison term of 15 to 21 years. On September 6, 2021, Marques was sentenced to 27 years imprisonment and ordered to forfeit over $154,000.


Notable hosted sites

* HackBB *
Lolita City Lolita City was a child pornography website that used hidden services available through the Tor (anonymity network), Tor network. The site hosted images and videos of underage males and females ranging up to 17 years of age (18 is the Age_of_cons ...
* Tor Mail * The Hidden Wiki


Proceeding site

Since Freedom Hosting was closed, a new organization, Freedom Hosting II was created, running 20 percent of all dark web sites.


References

{{Tor hidden services Defunct Tor hidden services Dark web Web hosting Internet properties established in 2008 Internet properties disestablished in 2013