The ocean covers over 71 percent of the Earth’s surface containing approximately 97 percent of our water supply, yet over 95 percent of it remains unexplored. Similarly, the internet impacts millions upon billions of people’s lives, yet over 96 percent of it has yet to be discovered by the average citizen.

Hit-men purchases, murders, kidnapping, illicit drug purchases: the list goes on. Words and phrases that make us cringe— awful injustices hidden underneath the cloak of blissful anonymity that drape the deep web, yet there are little to no government regulations in place to stop these untold horrors.

The real question is how can we control a growing group of people that are stretched around the world that whose names are unknown? People post videos of themselves murdering innocent people, yet there is no punishment for their crimes due to the complete anonymity that they may hide behind. All of these images and videos cover the deep web, but no one can do or has done enough to stop this ever-expanding problem.

The government’s immobility in the situation is primarily due to the fact that most people do not know about the other 96 percent, but this does not change the fact that it is still there. And while the government has shut down a few of the major underground drug lord websites, like the Silk Road, the intervention has been minimal due to the rights of anonymity. The Supreme Court has ruled in McIntyre v. Ohio Elections Commission that the right to anonymous free speech is protected by the First Amendment.

The statement reads, “Protections for anonymous speech are vital to democratic discourse. Allowing dissenters to shield their identities frees them to express critical minority views . . . Anonymity is a shield from the tyranny of the majority. . . . It thus exemplifies the purpose behind the Bill of Rights and of the First Amendment in particular: to protect unpopular individuals from retaliation . . . at the hand of an intolerant society” (securityaffairs.com).

However, just as we make laws to protect society from dangers that we can physically see, we also must make laws and regulations to protect us from the virtual dangers that lurk deep in the internet. While it is important to feel as though you can speak your mind without being persecuted, if you are committing crimes there should be recourse for your actions.

The government must begin to allocate more funds to research of the deep web and help find solutions on how to curb this unchained monster.

Human-beings have at long last created a weapon that they cannot control. The internet is not going away any time soon, and it is time for us to start taking action against the untold and unspeakable horrors within its virtual walls.