Is there still a huge risk to surf the dark web or is it overhyped?

I wanna visit the links or sites for myself out of curiosity.

I probably sound dumb but can I use my laptop? or do I need a PC with good specs?

Extremely overhyped. Your laptop is fine. Just turn off Javascript and don’t do anything dumb like buy drugs with crypto from your Coinbase account.

Different behaviors carry different risks. Just browsing without running other people’s code (Javascript or worse) is pretty safe. Running Javascript or downloaded programs is riskier. Entering your personal information to buy things is even riskier than that, as is making irrevocable payments to people you don’t know. Note that the hazards are different - some result in losing control of your information or your computer, others result in losing money or exposure to prosecution or harassment.

Some people say “surf the dark web” to mean buying drugs. Some people mean “look at/share child porn.” Some people mean various darker-hat infosec tasks. What specifically are you wanting to do?

Safe.

Only warning:

If you end up on a forum and people are posting links that require you to enable Java, don’t do it. Never have it enabled. Disabling it should be the first thing you do.

just use your laptop. WIth tor. Or use tails if you are very paranoid

overhyped, if you are not drug cartel or childp site owner its same like surface. Like eve if you download any file that contains malware, It’s also on the surface.

There is no "Dark Web":trade_mark:.

Anything you have heard from anybody who uses that phrase should be ignored, because using it proves they’re drama queens who don’t know what they’re talking about.

There are various sites, largely unrelated to each other, that can only be reached via Tor or other anonymity tools. Some of them may try to hack you. Generally they’ll fail if you don’t do anything stupid. They’re more likely to fail if you use something like Tails or Whonix. It is, of course, always possible to get owned doing anything on the Internet.

Your laptop is fine.

It’s probably safe. I use my laptop there all the time and I’ve never ran into a problem. Unless you do something dumb like buying or downloading stuff, you’re probably fine. In general, you’re not in trouble unless you go looking for it.

There was never a “huge risk” just to browse

it is very overhyped by a lot of people. youll be fine with using your laptop, just make sure your javascript is off (sometimes it may not turn off, even if on safest, so you may have to go into about:config and mess around), dont visit illegal sites, and dont say anything stupid that may give your location away or some other information.

You can surf the dark web from your phone. Make sure what ever malware protection you use up to date and you should be good. Other than that, just be an adult and understand what you are doing.

Honestly in my 5 years of taking surveillance and opsec seriously as i try to circumnavigate the Orwellian fuckery we live in, I’ve accessed tor many times. I can tell that there’s a very dark side to the dark web, but as a pretty frequent scroller, (it is a wealth of information, literature, and interesting little hacks to make life slighly easier—) I’ve yet to once click on any page which is specifically devoted nor have I seen anything explicitly related to CSAM. Thankfully.

People are just scared of this potential reality, rightfully so. But unless you’re looking specifically for it, the likelihood of encountering it are slim. Most websites are actually quite opposed to it and will ban vendors or forums regarding the topic.

Install virtualbox, install a linux distro like linux mint or PopOS, install the Tor Browser and you can use Tor within you’re windows or linux host but sanboxed/isolated from your host

It’s fine, order some drugs while you’re on there, it’ll be fun .

How about surfing on an Iphone?

Just peeking is fine. No touching anything

It all depends on what you’re trying to do. But a nice and “clean” way is to run TailsOS. Look into it. The nice thing about tailsOS is that it ensures all internet traffic is routed through Tor - there are other big benefits, but I’ll leave that up to you to look into and decide for yourself.

I probably don’t need to point this out, but if you do access any clear net accounts (eg log into your YouTube or Gmail) you’re pretty much giving up your anonymity. - So don’t silkroad and then jump onto your Netflix account.

Best to just to keep things separate; tailsOS for only tor, period.

Is it illegal to just browse onion sites? (I guess depending on the onion site)

why turn off js ? To broke how sites look ?

I would like to just visually see what’s really on there for myself, I want to see drugs, chemicals, and just explore anything cool
Not buying anything*