ICANN Acronyms and Terms
Type in the acronym or term you are looking for in the Search bar below.
In addition to English, translated versions of acronyms and terms are also available in Arabic, Chinese, French, Russian, and Spanish. Links for each language are located in the top right of the page.
Click the first letter of the term you are looking for to search alphabetically.
Do you have feedback on the definitions or the terms? Send us an email to: [email protected].
D
Dark Web
A part of the Internet ecosystem where publishers can host or exchange information without revealing their identities or locations. Although the Dark Web uses the Internet Protocol (IP), it uses encryption and the Onion Router (TOR) to protect users from surveillance and traceability.
The Dark Web does not use the Domain Name System to resolve domain names. Instead it uses TOR's hidden service names, which are delegated from .onion, a special-use top-level domain.