You can't miss the dark web crime stories. Markets are being taken down. Even mid-sized European police forces such as the Dutch are pulling off creative and very efficient cyber and real-world operations to ensnare and capture dark web criminals.
Just last week, the owners of DeepDotWeb were arrested. These guys offered affiliate links to illegal dark web markets. What the you-know-what were they thinking? Anyone on the dark web market "food chain" is going to be arrested, convicted and sentenced to 10-20 years. It doesn't take a law degree to see where illegal dark web activities lead to.
In the early days - the Silk Road era - US and European law enforcement were learning the ropes. Not so in 2019.
Here is my thesis -
At first, the dark web and internet gave "the bad guys" an advantage.
Then, the "good guys" learned everything they could and are using it to take down illegal markets and websites.
Unlike the real world, everything online is tracked. Like The Police song, "Every breath you take" - every iteration you make of your website is downloadable - one tiny mistake by any one person on a website staff - and the game is over.
When Oxymonster - a dark web dealer - was busted, I was shocked at one thing - the feds compared his writing to that of his social media accounts. Could you imagine "bad guys" in the 1970's and 1980's (even without internet) writing about themselves publicly - like a fool speaking to a therapist with a megaphone at a park??!!
In the real world, we avoid places where illegal or bad things tend to happen. You know what neighborhoods to avoid. The same goes for the internet. Read about the dark web in the news, but do not enter or visit.
And if you are inspired to create an affiliate site, make sure you link to legal items!!!