Information needs of drug users on a local dark Web marketplace

Abstract

This study examines the nature of context-sensitive information needs by focusing on the articulations of need for disnormative information among drug users. To this end, the sample of 9300 messages posted to Sipulitori, a Finnish dark web site were examined by means of descriptive statistics and qualitative content analysis. The theoretical framework of the study was developed by drawing on Tom Wilson´s idea of information need as a phenomenon fundamentally triggered by physiological, affective and cognitive factors indicating basic human needs. To examine the contextual features of needs for disnormative information, the study made use of Chatman´s theory of information poverty characteristic of small worlds and Savolainen´s model for way of life. The findings indicate that about 72% of the information need topics related to drugs dealt with the usage, availability and price of narcotics. The articulations of drug-related information needs reflected the users´ ways of life dominated by the activities of buying, selling and using illegal narcotics. Drug-related information needs are typically triggered by physiological factors, because of the centrality of the physical dependence on drugs. Our study also revealed the simultaneous existence of physiological, affective and cognitive factors especially in messages in which the information need was articulated in greater detail.

Drug traders on a local dark web marketplace

“…Most significantly, the study found that drug use and trading dominated the information needs and information sharing of the users to a great extent (see also [23]). Questions and answers about other things (sex, work, money, hobbies) were made from a point of view in which drug use was taken as the established, shared baseline.…”

“…Libertarian thinking, including agorism, in the style of the old Silk Road (see e.g., [21,27]) was present on Sipulitori, but very rare. The users were far more likely to discuss daily habits or lifecontrol problems than any ideological points about the liberty to trade in what one wants and to use any substance one wants [23]. Without interviews, it is not possible to be certain about the value systems of the site's users, but the absence of such talk on also lifestyle-related forum sections was rather conspicuous.…”

“…This is why the usernames are not changed very often. In the discussion forum, traitors ("rats") and their usernames were also sometimes discussed [23]. This demonstrates the importance of Wickr usernames in situations relating to trust.…”

“…According to Haasio, Harviainen and Savolainen [23], there are three types of drug users present on these forums: recreational users, daily users, and "junkies". Users appear acknowledgeable and vocal about which group they belong to.…”

“…The article focuses on special traits relating to the way of life and demographic identities of drug users, traits that influence their everyday lives and which are reflected in criminal activities in the Tor network [23]. As its theoretical framework, the article uses Reijo Savolainen's [34,35] way of life, coming from information seeking studies, and Pierre Bourdieu's [11,12] concept of habitus.…”