Last week Joel sent everyone at USV an email outlining his journey through and exploration of the Dark Web which ultimately resulted in a purchase of a pair of boots for his girlfriend. Jonathan replied to all with “this is the best thing I’ve read on the Internet this year” to which I replied “except it isn’t on the Internet. it should be”.
Joel got around to posting it to the Internet earlier this week. It is here.
If you haven’t used Tor, if you haven’t bought stuff from these anonymous marketplaces, if you haven’t laundered your bitcoin, if you haven’t arranged for an untraceable shipment, you might want to read how all of this goes down on the Dark Web.
As my partner Brad explained in a follow up post on the topic of the week thread on usv.com, we were so fascinated by Joel’s exploration of these Dark Web marketplaces because it feels like a trip into the future in some ways. Brad said:
The really interesting thing about Joel’s analysis is what it tells us about the future of open, transparent and legal markets on the Internet.
and
All this leaves me wondering not so much if the world will move toward decentralized, and disaggregated marketplaces, but when and why. Because the activities on the dark web are largely illegal, there is no other choice. For the rest of us, we are still generally willing to depend on a centralized platform for discovery, and identity management. For the moment, we are also still willing to accept the fees, the terms of service, and the bundling, these platforms enforce. My guess is the models pioneered on the dark web will come into the light first as leaner more efficient competitors to the first generation of peer economy companies, but the question I am still struggling with is where to look. Are there legal markets where the value of a decentralized market is greater so this transition will happen sooner, or will it happen first in any market where a first generation peer economy company goes too far by economically and politically disenfranchising the value creators at the edge of their network?
This conversation gives me some small desire to go on a shopping spree myself because its easier for me to understand something with my hands than my eyes. If and when I do, I’ll report back here, as always.
