Practicum Post #1

My practicum assignment focuses on Internet users who are concerned with social and/or political activism. I have explored activist groups and communities that are generally considered extreme by the public, since those groups will likely provide the most unique and interesting views.
The first places I visited were various sites on the Deep Web, or the Tor network. The Tor network is a small, covertly decentralized network that allows the users actions to remain highly anonymous while on it. This of course means that a fair amount of illegal activity dominates the Tor network, like the buying/selling of guns/drugs. But there are also a fair amount of websites that are devoted to social and political activism.
One of the sites that was listed on the Tor wiki claimed to be a safe and popular place for the organization and coordination of hacktivist operations. After clicking on the link, I was directed to a white page of only text saying something like, "Interested in aiding the revolution? You've come to the right place, CLICK HERE." The "CLICK HERE" was a hyperlink that took to you to a page which is pictured in the screenshot above. You're able to send a message to somebody random, or to someone if you know their ID. You are given a onetime ID that you can enter in another page to check to see if you got a response. Since I know nobody who goes there, I randomly messaged a few people, but got nothing back. It is highly likely that I misunderstood some of the directions and was doing the process incorrectly. No matter, it seems like an extremely inefficient way for anyone to get involved in activism or for people already involved to coordinate. I guess it might be useful if one were extremely concerned about security, but I have a feeling those kind of people are more likely to discuss things in person to ensure proper communication.