Gary Glitter has been filmed using a smartphone and appearing to enquire about the dark web.
A video filmed by another prisoner at his bail hostel and obtained by The Sun on Sunday shows Glitter - real name Paul Gadd - appearing to reference search engines that protect user’s privacy.
He says: “Shall I get rid of this duck duck?”
An unknown person replies: “Yeah, I wouldn’t bother using that if I were you.”
Glitter then says: “So what do I do next, then? Let’s try and find this onion. One step at a time.”
It is thought that Glitter, 78, was referring to DuckDuckGo, a search engine that claims to protect users’ privacy.
Meanwhile the dark web, which allows users to access illegal and violent content, is only accessible through a series of encrypted Tor networks, with many having a .onion URL.
Former detective superintendent Michael Hames, who set up the Metropolitan Police’s Paedophile Unit told The Sun that “onion” is a slang term for the dark web.
And the ministry of justice said sex offenders face restrictions on internet use and risk being recalled to prison if they breach these conditions.
The footage comes after Glitter was released last month from HMP Verne in Portland, Dorset, half-way through a 2015 16 year sentence for the historic sexual abuse of three girls. As part of the conditions of his release he will spend three months at the bail hostel, in an undisclosed location.
Glitter attacked two girls, aged 12 and 13, after inviting them backstage to his dressing room. His third victim was less than 10 years old when he tried to rape her in 1975.
Previously, he admitted possessing 4,000 child pornography images and was jailed for four months in 1999.
In 2002, he was expelled from Cambodia amid reports of sex crime allegations, and in March 2006 he was convicted of sexually abusing two girls, aged 10 and 11, in Vietnam and spent two-and-a-half years in jail.
Glitter wears a GPS tag and has a nightly curfew. He is also barred from going near schools, playgrounds or swimming pools and his phone can be monitored remotely.
Speaking to The Sun about the footage, Hames said: “This is extremely disturbing and shows that he’s attempting to access material he should not be accessing.
“People use the Dark Web for nefarious purposes. Why else would you want to be on there? Onion is a slang phrase for Dark Web.”
Conservative MP Robert Buckland told the Daily Mail: “I would have thought there would be licence conditions prohibiting this sort of activity and I hope the Ministry of Justice takes swift action to deal with this.”
Former home secretary Priti Patel said if Glitter was breaching conditions imposed when he was freed last month, he should be sent back to prison.
“This is very shocking and makes you feel sick,” she told the publication.
The Ministry of Justice added: “Sex offenders are closely monitored by the police and Probation Service and face some of the strictest licence conditions including restrictions on internet use. If an offender breaches these conditions, they can be recalled to prison.”
