A large-scale longitudinal structured dataset of the dark web cryptomarket Evolution (2014-2015)
Abstract
Dark Web Marketplaces (DWM) facilitate the online trade of illicit goods. Due to the illicit nature of these marketplaces, quality datasets are scarce and difficult to produce. The Dark Net Market archives (2015) presented raw scraped source files crawled from a selection of DWMs, including Evolution. Here, we present, specifically for the Evolution DWM, a structured dataset extracted from Dark Net Market archive data. Uniquely, many of the data quality issues inherent to crawled data are resolved. The dataset covers over 500 thousand forum posts and over 80 thousand listings, providing data on forums, topics, posts, forum users, market vendors, listings, and more. Additionally, we present temporal weighted communication networks extracted from this data. The presented dataset provides easy access to a high quality DWM dataset to facilitate the study of criminal behaviour and communication on such DWMs, which may provide a relevant source of knowledge for researchers across disciplines, from social science to law to network science.
Authors 3
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Affiliation as printed
Leiden University , Institute of Advanced Computer Science , Niels Bohrweg 1 , 2333 CA Leiden , Netherlands
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Leiden University · Netherlands Institute for the Study of Crime and Law Enforcement
Affiliation as printed
Leiden University , Institute of Criminal Law and Criminology , Steenschuur 25 , 2311 ES Leiden , Netherlands
Netherlands Institute for the Study of Crime and Law Enforcement (NCSR) , De Boelelaan 1077 , 1081 HV Amsterdam , Netherlands
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Affiliation as printed
Leiden University , Institute of Advanced Computer Science , Niels Bohrweg 1 , 2333 CA Leiden , Netherlands
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