Clearnet is a term that typically refers to the publicly accessible

Internet The Internet (or internet) is the Global network, global system of interconnected computer networks that uses the Internet protocol suite (TCP/IP) to communicate between networks and devices. It is a internetworking, network of networks ...

. Sometimes "clearnet" is used as a synonym for " surface web"—excluding both the darknet and the deep web. The

World Wide Web The World Wide Web (WWW or simply the Web) is an information system that enables Content (media), content sharing over the Internet through user-friendly ways meant to appeal to users beyond Information technology, IT specialists and hobbyis ...

is one of the most popular distributed services on the Internet, and the surface web is composed of the web pages and databases that are indexed by traditional

search engine A search engine is a software system that provides hyperlinks to web pages, and other relevant information on World Wide Web, the Web in response to a user's web query, query. The user enters a query in a web browser or a mobile app, and the sea ...

s. "Clearnet" can be seen as the opposite of the term " darknet", which typically describes the services built on

Tor Tor, TOR or ToR may refer to: Places * Toronto, Canada ** Toronto Raptors * 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 ...

or other anonymity networks, the connection to which is encrypted and anonymized. Because the darknet is not publicly accessible, it is part of the deep web. The term "deep web", describes those parts of the Internet that are not indexed, whether or not they are publicly accessible. It includes web portals to databases that require text searches, and interactive web sites that require more user input than simply clicking hyperlinks.

Characteristics

Without the use of anonymity services like

, browsing the clearnet is typically not anonymous; most websites routinely identify users by their

IP address An Internet Protocol address (IP address) is a numerical label such as that is assigned to a device connected to a computer network that uses the Internet Protocol for communication. IP addresses serve two main functions: network interface i ...

as well as other data transmitted by the client.

References

Internet terminology Dark web {{Networking-stub