Lighting up the Dark Web(3)

Legal loopholes

Even though online drug crimes have risen in recent years, relevant laws that target this area are still too few.

While there are explicit articles in the law to punish criminals who provide shelters for using drugs, there is none to charge website operators.

"Theoretically, Dark Web webmasters also provide cyberspace, or shelters, to accommodate drug addicts, and they should be sentenced according to the same criminal law. But there is no corresponding juristic interpretation to these articles, meaning that this punishment cannot apply to them," Zhang said.

That has resulted in these webmasters only receiving light punishment, such as fines or short detention times, allowing them to easily return to their crimes.

Zeng said that some websites provide cyber money for gambling, which must be traded for real money. In some sites, 200 yuan ($33) can buy 20 million cyber coins. Besides, webmasters can also charge money from VIPs, who pay 3,000 to 5,000 yuan to join VIP areas.

One webmaster, surnamed Guo, was quoted by CCTV as saying that the higher level a VIP attains, the more power they have such as expelling members. To keep their special status, these VIPs must pay 500 to 600 yuan every month.

According to the Beijing Times, the profit of some of these websites can reach as high as 100,000 yuan per month.

"In this case, they could be charged by the crime of running illegal websites. They could then face up to five years in prison," Zhang said.

The Internet has played a controversial role in people's lives. On the one hand, it brings down communication barriers but also has allowed illegal activities to thrive in hidden pockets of the Dark Web. While it seems that drug dealers are a step ahead of police for the moment, it is hoped that China's law enforcement agencies can catch up and quickly shine a light into the darkest corners of the Internet.