Sydney Library Launches ‘Dark Web 4 Seniors’ to Bridge Digital Skills Gap
“It should be just as easy for seniors to renew their license, share extremist content, or procure a hired gun as it is for anyone else.”
Move over youngsters — there’s a new group of computer whizzes on the block.
After a successful month-long trial run, Randwick West Library is launching its new 'Dark Web 4 Seniors' program to the public. Every Thursday at 11am, seniors aged 60 and over are invited to learn the ins and outs of the internet’s most dangerous and unregulated corners in the name of inclusion and independence.
This first of its kind program is the brainchild of Gavriela Princip, the new Director of Learning at Randwick West Library. “Our focus groups indicated that although technology offered numerous benefits to their generation, Baby Boomers were the least digitally engaged of our entire population,” Gavriela told PULP in an interview. “In a world where so many services are now delivered digitally, we cannot afford to leave their generation behind. It should be just as easy for seniors to renew their license, share extremist content, or procure a hired gun as it is for anyone else.”
Before enrolling in the program, Jill lamented how difficult it was to access Government Services as an 83 year old. “Illegally, that is. I’ve found their systems are much more secure than they were 30 years ago, meaning it's gotten harder and harder for me to find vulnerabilities in their websites.” Under Gavriela’s supervision, Jill acquired a remote access trojan from a darknet marketplace and gained unauthorized access to the personal information of thousands of residents in her local council’s database. “Thanks to Gavriela’s training, I’ve never felt more independent. For one thing, my son will be pleased I don’t have to call him whenever I feel like holding an under-resourced hospital to ransom.”
“When my grandson Steven told me about his cryptocurrency investments, I didn’t quite get it,” recalled Gary, a 76 year old from Bellevue Hill. “I thought it was just another young person thing — too complex for someone of my generation to understand.” It wasn’t until the second week of DW4S that Gary had his ‘Aha’ moment, telling PULP “when I saw Gavriela show just how easy it was to pay for ecstasy from the Netherlands with Monero, it all began to click. I started to realize just how transformative a technology like this could be.”
‘Dark Web 4 Seniors’ is the latest in a pipeline of new community training programs the library is offering under Gavriela’s stewardship. Other programs include ‘MAKE!’, a two-week long school holiday course where high school students learn Computer-Aided-Design software to manufacture 3D printed firearms, as well as ‘SPEED and Sip’, where middle-aged singles are encouraged to come along and exchange pleasantries while manufacturing amphetamines in the library’s basement.