Yeah. It's a term we've got to live with though: it's too widely used in media.

That's why news and public service actors with global ambitions launching onion services is likely a huge net gain in the long run.

Think about it as dark side of the moon - an invisible place.

I agree that it's bad optics, but personally I think it sounds shway. If we're gonna live in a dystopian future where we have to evade omnipresent government surveillance using illegal* code, it might as well sound like something out of an '80s sci-fi novel or a '90s anime. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

*Currently illegal in some jurisdictions, more coming soon!