From the November 2013 Desktop News | A Time cover story published this month, “The Secret Web: Where Drugs, Porn, and Murder Live Online,” discusses the little known Deep Web, a part of the internet where activity – illegal or legal – cannot be tracked. The article includes insights from Dr. Diana Dolliver, an assistant professor in the Department of Criminal Justice, who specializes in macro-level trends in organized crime and drug trafficking.

Dolliver was interviewed because of her affiliation with Harvard University’s Scholars Strategy Network, which is made up of academic experts and provides members of the press  with a clearinghouse for scholars doing cutting edge research on topics of public interest. She earned the spot based on her doctoral coursework at Northeastern University in Boston.

In her research, Dolliver has been tracking trends in drug trafficking and analyzing the motives behind these trends. Prior to 2005, very few major drug trafficking organizations were using the Internet to sell and distribute narcotics, she said. The primary means of communication was through cell phones. Dolliver spent three years working for the Drug Enforcement Administration analyzing telecommunications patterns for major crime groups.

In the article, Dolliver discusses these mainstream methods and how their infiltration by law enforcement may have led to more sophisticated technologies. This is where the Deep Web, and specialized technologies associated with it, began to flourish.

Sharing her expertise with Time was a rewarding experience, Dolliver said. She hopes the exposure will increase the awareness of UA’s criminal justice program as well as bring some recognition to her ongoing research. Dolliver is currently pursuing a grant to gain access to the Deep Web so she can analyze major trends for use by such government agencies as the DEA and the FBI.

To read the article online, visit: http://content.time.com/time/subscriber/article/0,33009,2156271-6,00.html.