FOIA Documents Show TOR Undernet Beyond the Reach of the Federal InvestigatorsFOIA Request: silk road anonymous marketplace (DOJ) Recently released documents detail the federal governments inability to pursue cybercriminals shrouded by the tricky anonymity tools used by the Silk Road marketplace and other darknet sites tools which are funded in part by the federal government itself. In this particular case, a citizen reported stumbling upon a cache of child pornography while browsing the anonymous Tor networks hidden sites, which are viewable with specialized, but readily available, tools and the special .onion domain. Documents, released through a Freedom of Information Act request by Jason Smathers on MuckRock, show that after being given details of the illicit material, investigators were stymied as to the origin of the pornographys host. In the investigators own words, there is not currently a way to trace the origin of the website. As such no other investigative leads exist. The FBI and DEA had been directed to investigate Tor networks, and specifically the Silk Road marketplace where users can buy and sell legal and illegal goods anonymously using a combination of Tor and the cryptocurrency Bitcoin, by Senator Charles Schumer who stated that the DEA was aware of the site and most likely investigating it. A nearly identical request regarding Silk Road to the Drug Enforcement Agency was rejected as being too broad or burdensome to process, while the Secret Service claimed it had no responsive documents, as did the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms and Immigrations and Customs Enforcement. The DEA has touted infiltrating similar anonymous Tor marketplaces in the past. Despite the illegal ends of these marketplaces, the technology was begun and still operates with more noble aims: It was originally sponsored by the US Naval Research Lab, and later maintained by the Tor Project, a non-profit group supported financially at various times by the Electronic Frontier Foundation, various governmental and NGO entities, Google and the National Science Foundation. The technology has proven important in puncturing through Internet censorship and tracking attempts around the world. You can support this information by voting on Reddit HERE. Michael Morisy is the co-founder of MuckRock where this article first appeared. He can be contacted at Michael@MuckRock.com. Support MuckRocks mission for a more transparent democracy: Register an account starting at just $20 and file a request that matters to you. 