Isn't the Deep web and the dark web the same thing? People use them interchangeable at least but I think dark web sounds more sinister and is used for the more criminal aspects of it.

This article is about the part of the World Wide Web not indexed by traditional search engines. For the part of the World Wide Web which exists on Darknets, see Dark Web.

The Deep Web, Deep Net, Invisible Web, or Hidden Web are search terms referring to the content on the World Wide Web that is not indexed by standard search engines. Computer scientist Mike Bergman is credited with coining the term in 2000.

The first conflation of the terms came about in 2009 when the deep web search terminology was discussed alongside illegal activities taking place on the Freenet darknet.

Since then, the use in the Silk Road's media reporting, many people and media outlets, have taken to using Deep Web synonymously with the Dark Web or Darknet, a comparison Bright Planet rejects as inaccurate and consequently is an ongoing source of confusion. Wired reporters Kim Zetter and Andy Greenberg recommend the terms be used in distinct fashions.

This article is about darknet websites. For the part of the Internet not accessible by traditional search engines, see Deep web (search).

The Dark Web, also confusingly referred to as the Deep Web and conflated with Deep Web search is the World Wide Web content that exists on darknets, networks which overlay the public Internet and require specific software, configurations or authorization to access. The Dark Web forms part of the Deep Web, the part of the Web not indexed by search engines.

The darknets which constitute the Dark Web include small, friend-to-friend peer-to-peer networks, as well as large, popular networks like Freenet, I2P, and Tor, operated by public organizations and individuals. Users of the Dark Web refer to the regular web as the Clearnet due to its unencrypted nature. The Tor dark web may be referred to as Onionland, a reference to the network's name as "the onion router."