The Hidden Wiki was a
dark web
The dark web is the World Wide Web content that exists on ''darknets'': overlay networks that use the Internet but require specific software, configurations, or authorization to access. Through the dark web, private computer networks can communi ...
MediaWiki
MediaWiki is a free and open-source wiki software. It is used on Wikipedia and almost all other Wikimedia websites, including Wiktionary, Wikimedia Commons and Wikidata; these sites define a large part of the requirement set for MediaWiki ...
wiki
A wiki ( ) is an online hypertext publication collaboratively edited and managed by its own audience, using a web browser. A typical wiki contains multiple pages for the subjects or scope of the project, and could be either open to the pu ...
operating as
Tor hidden services
Tor, short for The Onion Router, is free and open-source software for enabling anonymous communication. It directs Internet traffic through a free, worldwide, volunteer overlay network, consisting of more than seven thousand relays, to con ...
that could be anonymously edited after registering on the site. The main page served as a
directory of links to other
.onion
.onion is a special-use top level domain name designating an anonymous onion service, which was formerly known as a "hidden service", reachable via the Tor network. Such addresses are not actual DNS names, and the .onion TLD is not in the I ...
sites.
History
The first Hidden Wiki was operated through the .onion
pseudo top-level domain A pseudo-top-level domain is a label or name for a computer network that is not participating in the world-wide official Domain Name System and may not even participate in the Internet, but may use a similar domain name hierarchy. Historically the b ...
which can be accessed only by using
Tor
Tor, TOR or ToR may refer to:
Places
* Tor, Pallars, a village in Spain
* Tor, former name of Sloviansk, Ukraine, a city
* Mount Tor, Tasmania, Australia, an extinct volcano
* Tor Bay, Devon, England
* Tor River, Western New Guinea, Indonesia
Sc ...
or a Tor gateway.
Its main page provided a community-maintained link directory to other hidden services, including links claiming to offer
money laundering
Money laundering is the process of concealing the origin of money, obtained from illicit activities such as drug trafficking, corruption, embezzlement or gambling, by converting it into a legitimate source. It is a crime in many jurisdictions ...
,
contract killing
Contract killing is a form of murder or assassination in which one party hires another party to kill a targeted person or persons. It involves an illegal agreement which includes some form of payment, monetary or otherwise. Either party may be ...
,
cyber-attack
A cyberattack is any offensive maneuver that targets computer information systems, computer networks, infrastructures, or personal computer devices. An attacker is a person or process that attempts to access data, functions, or other restricted ...
s for hire,
contraband
Contraband (from Medieval French ''contrebande'' "smuggling") refers to any item that, relating to its nature, is illegal to be possessed or sold. It is used for goods that by their nature are considered too dangerous or offensive in the eyes o ...
chemicals, and
bomb making
The availability of bomb-making instruction on the Internet has been a cause célèbre amongst lawmakers and politicians anxious to curb the Internet frontier by censoring certain types of information deemed "dangerous" which is available online. ...
. The rest of the wiki was essentially uncensored as well and also offered links to sites hosting child pornography and
abuse
Abuse is the improper usage or treatment of a thing, often to unfairly or improperly gain benefit. Abuse can come in many forms, such as: physical or verbal maltreatment, injury, assault, violation, rape, unjust practices, crimes, or other t ...
images.
The earliest mention of the hidden wiki is from 2007 when it was located at 6sxoyfb3h2nvok2d.onion.
A well known iteration of the Hidden Wiki was founded some time before October 2011, coming to prominence with its associations with illegal content.
At some point prior to August 2013, the site was hosted on
Freedom Hosting
:''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 that was established in 2008. At its height in August 2013, it was the la ...
.
In March 2014 the site and its kpvz7ki2v5agwt35.onion domain was hacked and redirected to
Doxbin
Doxbin is a defunct onion service. It was a type of pastebin primarily used by people posting personal data (often referred to as ''doxing'') of any person of interest.
Due to the illegal nature of much of the information it published (such ...
.
Following this event, the content began to be mirrored to more locations. During
Operation Onymous
Operation Onymous was an international law enforcement operation targeting darknet markets and other hidden services operating on the Tor network.
Background
Operation Onymous was formed as a joint law enforcement operation between the Federa ...
in November 2014, after its Bulgarian hosting was compromised, the site served a message from law enforcement.
Successors
There are several .onion websites hosting successors based on
mirrors
A mirror or looking glass is an object that Reflection (physics), reflects an image. Light that bounces off a mirror will show an image of whatever is in front of it, when focused through the lens of the eye or a camera. Mirrors reverse the ...
of the Hidden Wiki; as such, there is no longer one single official Hidden Wiki.
[ Many are hosted for accessibility reasons, due to frequent downtime and instability of the main wiki, while others were launched in order to filter links to ]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 chi ...
.
See also
*
References
External links
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Hidden Wiki
Wikis
Underground culture
Tor onion services
Dark web
Internet properties with year of establishment missing