darknetn.
/ˈdɑːknɛt/, U.S. /ˈdɑrkˌnɛt/ Computing.
Any of various covert networks on the internet allowing anonymous or encrypted communication, accessed using specific software, system configuration, or authorization, and often used for illegal commerce, file-sharing, etc.; (with the) such networks collectively. Cf. dark web n.
ΚΠ
1995 wash.general 18 Dec. (Usenet newsgroup, accessed 15 Sept. 2006) I think the solution is to create ‘Dark net’; a secret internet service similar to that which existed at the beginning of the internet, when computers would call each other and exchange emails and usenet post.
2002 Observer 1 Dec. (Business section) 9/8 If you are competing with the darknet, you must compete on the darknet's own terms: convenience and low cost rather than additional security.
2005 N.Y. Times (National ed.) 5 Oct. e2/1 These are ‘darknets’: exclusive peer-to-peer networks in which membership is based on circles of trust, whose activities are veiled from the general public.
2018 @EMCDDA 26 Apr. in twitter.com (O. E. D. Archive) Download our poster on Drugs and the darknet, including an infographic showing lifetimes and reasons for closure of over 100 global darknet markets.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, December 2021).
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n.1995