Over the weekend, a large number of DarkNet, or Deep Web, that were only accessible through the Tor network disappeared after the closure of Web Hosting company, Freedom Hosting. The company was one of the largest providers of Deep Web services.
The company was shut down by the US government, which was targeting a child pornography network hosted there and allegedly run by Eric Eoin Marques, who is the owner and administrator of Freedom Hosting.
The feds apparently exploited a vulnerability in Firefox version 17, which is the basis of the Tor Bundle Browser.
Authorities used the vulnerability to gather information about Tor.
The Tor project , of course, quickly released announcements to separate its position from anything hosted on the network. In its various announcements, it states that they only provide the technology and that they have nothing to do with how people choose to use it.
Mozilla confirmed that it is investigating the vulnerability in Firefox 17. However, in the wake of the events, Brendan Eich, founder of Mozilla and creator of JavaScript , made a very interesting suggestion, arguing that Tor technology should simply be included in future versions of Firefox, thus making it possible for anyone to access the Tor network directly from their browser.
