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Software engineer, Debian developer, and recognized Free/Open Source Software innovator Daniel Pocock scratches the surface on the 2016 explusion of journalist, security researcher, and hacker Jacob Appelbaum from Debian. He asserts that the leadership in Debian at the time falsified evidence and hid conflicts of interest when dealing with the allegations against Appelbaum.
In 2016, there was an enormous amount of noise about Jacob Appelbaum from the Tor Project and winner of the Henri Nannen Prize for journalism.
An anonymous web site had been set up with allegations of harassment, abuse and rape. Unlike the #MeToo movement, which came later, nobody identified themselves and nobody filed a police complaint. It appears that the site was run by people who live in another country and have no daily contact with Appelbaum. Therefore, many people feel this wasn't about justice or immediate threats to their safety.
Long discussions took place in the private mailing lists of many free software communities, including Debian. Personally, as a I focus on my employer, clients and family and as there are so many long email discussions in Debian, I don't follow most of these things. I've come to regret that as it is now clear that at least some claims may have been falsified, a serious injustice has transpired and this could have been easily detected.
I don't wish to discount the experiences of anybody who has been a victim of a crime. However, in the correspondence that was circulated within Debian, the only person who has technically been harassed is Jacob Appelbaum himself. If Appelbaum does have a case to answer then organizations muddying the waters, inventing additional victims, may undermine the stories of real victims.
He then goes on to provide supporting evidence — including what was falsified and how the falsifications were used by the press — and then, from there, used against Appelbaum.
Previously:
(2016) Jacob Appelbaum Leaves the Tor Project
(2014) Hackers Replicate NSA's Leaked Bugging Devices
(Score: 2, Touché) by Anonymous Coward on Friday August 28 2020, @01:21AM (6 children)
If you are correct, she's damn clever, going after her own NSA masters in public like that. So don't ever drink the tea if she offers a cup.
(Score: 2, Insightful) by fustakrakich on Friday August 28 2020, @05:22AM (1 child)
Just like MiB, hide in plain sight...
La politica e i criminali sono la stessa cosa..
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday August 30 2020, @04:06PM
I should hope so. SNMP relies on them.
(Score: 2, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Friday August 28 2020, @06:05AM (2 children)
You're the NSA, you've identified an organisation/project which is of concern to your 'mission', you need a handle on it, so you have a choice, either have a 'sister agency' ( for plausible deniability reasons) install a planted 'asset', or risk having someone competent and anti your 'mission' in place...
So, which of these two would you choose to have?
Spooks gotta spook, and British spooks have long 'form' for planting agents in all sorts of organisations deemed subversive or potentially dangerous to their interests..If you want a rather fine recent example of their work, have a look at the actions of their 'plants' in a certain Scottish political party supposedly hell bent on breaking up the UK (not in the spooks interest, being agents of said state), they even managed to swing a show trial of the party's former leader out of it, unfortunately for them, the jury found him innocent, but hey, their assets are still ruining...sorry, running that party and that country.
Quite...though considering the nationality of the agency alleged to be behind this, adulterating tea?, just not cricket old chap, they do have some standards....
I once knew an Oxbridge spook who, for emergencies, kept a jar containing an extract derived from Chondrodendron tomentosum and had several small sharp 'plausibly deniable' implements whose blades were kept coated in said extract..so I'd be more inclined to watch out for pointy false fingernails and cultivate a convenient attack of mysophobia...
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday August 28 2020, @06:26AM (1 child)
CAPT. OVEUR: Joey, have you ever heard of Poe's law?
JOEY: no, is that the thing about Hitler?
(Score: 1, Touché) by Anonymous Coward on Friday August 28 2020, @12:51PM
Well, I could have added that the Oxbridge spook's father was, for a while, Hitlerjugend 'back in the day' to tick that box..
(Score: 3, Interesting) by VLM on Friday August 28 2020, @01:02PM
Look what an amazingly effective job she did. The best they could come up with is she spent lots of donation money on larger team. And accomplished... ?