Chapter 9The Darknet

With new technologies evolving, criminals find easier ways for illicit activities—that is the dark side of anonymity and decentralization.

While the precise origin of the COVID‐19 pandemic is unknown, during its first year (2020) it infected more than 30 million people, with almost 1 million confirmed to have died from it as it continues to spread across the world. According to one study, the highly contagious virus has the ability to survive up to three weeks in frozen food supplies of meat and fish.

The United States—the worst‐hit country by sheer numbers—is facing two intersecting health crises: the ongoing opioid overdose epidemic and the coronavirus pandemic with more than 200,000 in 2020 and more than 900,000 in 2022 confirmed COVID‐19 fatalities, which is about 15% of total global deaths. Regrettably, each has the potential to exacerbate the effects of the other. Nevertheless, in a hopeful announcement in 2020, the US Naval Research Laboratory disclosed that they found a safe way to track the spread of COVID‐19 and other contagious diseases from one cell to another in the human body.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reports that drug overdose deaths have been on an upward climb for several years across all demographic groups in the United States. More precisely, the catastrophic outbreaks of COVID‐19 cases have been recorded in the United States' packed jails, prisons, and immigration detention centers, according to epidemiologist Dr. ...

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