The Weaponising Of Social Part 3: The Resurrection Of IOError


The genesis of this groundbreaking series was a moral obligation to highlight obvious discrepancies in the coordinated smears against Jacob Appelbaum (IOError). That smear campaign’s self-pronounced and ostensibly achieved aim was to permanently shut down his (anti-surveillance, anti-three-letter-agency) public speaking by casting him out from the very communities he has dedicated his life to supporting.

contraspin.co.nz

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Was hat dieser Mann getan?


Der amerikanische Internetaktivist Jacob Appelbaum soll in Berlin Mitstreiterinnen sexuell missbraucht haben. Die Vorwürfe spalten die Szene.

Das Jahr 2016 ist erst wenige Stunden alt, als die Orgie in der Berliner Altbauwohnung von Jacob Appelbaum am Prenzlauer Berg richtig losgeht. Im Wohnzimmer hat jemand das Sofa ausgeklappt, zwei Paare haben dort gleichzeitig Sex. Manche der Gäste haben zuvor, auf einer anderen Feier, bereits die synthetische Partydroge MDMA eingeworfen, die euphorisiert und das Nähebedürfnis verstärkt. Ein drittes Paar ist im Schlafzimmer zugange. In Appelbaums Bett oder auf dem Sofa soll später ein Verbrechen passiert sein. Im Wohnzimmer haben sich ein paar Leute auf dem Boden niedergelassen, alle sind angezogen. Sie haben die Musik laut gestellt, damit das Stöhnen der anderen weniger stört. Eine junge Journalistin hat es sich auf dem Schoß eines Mannes bequem gemacht, er massiert ihren Rücken. Gegenüber sitzt eine junge Amerikanerin, sie hat die anderen erst vor ein paar Tagen kennengelernt und wirkt, als fühle sie sich unwohl auf dieser Party – das wird später einer sagen, der dabei war. Sie spricht wenig, hört aber freundlich zu. Meist redet ohnehin der Gastgeber, um den herum die Gruppe sich versammelt hat: Der Amerikaner Jacob "Jake" Appelbaum, 33 Jahre alt, Spezialist für Computersicherheit und ein Rockstar der weltweiten Hackerszene. Sein Name wird in einem Atemzug genannt mit der Elite der digitalen Dissidenten, Edward Snowden oder Julian Assange. Für viele sind diese Männer Erlöserfiguren. Appelbaums Silvestergäste, etwa zwanzig, sind Programmierer, Hacker, Aktivisten aus aller Welt. Sie verbindet eine Mission: Sie nutzen Verschlüsselungstechnik, um gegen den verhassten Überwachungsstaat zu kämpfen.

zeit.de

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What Has This Man Done?


The American internet icon Jacob Appelbaum has been accused of sexually abusing female activists in Berlin. The episode has revealed deep cracks in the hacker community.

The year 2016 is only a couple of hours old when the orgy in Jacob Appelbaum’s apartment in a pre-World War II building in Berlin’s Prenzlauer Berg district really gets going. Somebody has unfolded the sofa in the living room. Two couples are having sex at the same time in the room. Some guests had already taken synthetic party drug MDMA, which induces a state of euphoria and increases the need for emotional warmth, at another party. A third couple is going at it in the bedroom. Later, a crime allegedly took place in Mr. Appelbaum’s bed or on the fold-out sofa. A couple of people in the living room are prone on the floor, all of them fully dressed. They had turned up the music so the moaning and groaning of the others doesn’t bother them as much. A young journalist had made herself comfortable on a man’s lap, and he is massaging her back. Sitting across from them is a young American woman. She had gotten to know the others just a couple of days before, but she appears to be uncomfortable at this party. She doesn’t talk much but listens in a friendly manner to what is being said.

zeit.de

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Inconsistencies in Rape Allegations


For the first time, Berlin-based hacker Jacob Appelbaum has spoken out about the anonymous rape allegations in an interview. He said the statements were fabricated.

Inconsistencies have emerged in the allegations of rape and sexual assault against American Internet activist Jacob Appelbaum. Reporting by the weekly newspaper DIE ZEIT shows there is considerable doubt about the veracity of the claims. A victim going by the pseudonym "River" claimed anonymously a few weeks ago that hacker Jacob Appelbaum had sex with her in his Berlin apartment while she had been unconscious. She had not consented because, she claimed, there had also been other people in the room. DIE ZEIT tracked down the young woman, an American, and has also spoken with eight witnesses who were present in the days and nights in January 2016 in which it has been claimed the crime was committed. The witnesses, can neither confirm that "River" was drugged nor that non-consensual sex occurred.

zeit.de

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Starke Zweifel an Vergewaltigungsvorwurf


Recherchen der ZEIT haben in den Missbrauchsvorwürfen gegen Jacob Appelbaum Widersprüche aufgedeckt. Erstmals äußert sich der Internetaktivist zu den Anschuldigungen.

Dem amerikanischen Internetaktivisten Jacob Appelbaum werden Vergewaltigung und sexuelle Übergriffe vorgeworfen. Doch nun werden Widersprüche bekannt: Recherchen der ZEIT zeigen, dass es starke Zweifel daran gibt, ob die Vorwürfe zutreffen. Ein angebliches Opfer mit dem Pseudonym River hatte vor einigen Wochen behauptet, der Hacker Jacob Appelbaum habe gegen ihren Willen Sex mit ihr in seiner Berliner Wohnung gehabt, während sie bewusstlos war. Die ZEIT hat die Anklägerin ausfindig gemacht und mit acht Augenzeugen jener Tage und Nächte im Januar 2016 gesprochen, in denen die Tat passiert sein soll. Die Zeugen können weder bestätigen, dass River betäubt gewesen war, noch dass nicht-einvernehmlicher Sex stattgefunden habe.

zeit.de

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Our statement on the results of the Jacob Appelbaum investigation


Seven weeks ago, I published a blog post saying that Jacob Appelbaum had left the Tor Project, and I invited people to contact me as the Tor Project began an investigation into allegations regarding his behavior. Since then, a number of people have come forward with first-person accounts and other information. The Tor Project hired a professional investigator, and she interviewed many individuals to determine the facts concerning the allegations. The investigator worked closely with me and our attorneys, helping us to understand the overall factual picture as it emerged. The information shared was sensitive, and in writing this post I am aiming to balance my desire for the Tor Project to be transparent and accountable with my desire to respect individual privacy.

torproject.org

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Orwell’s Swan Song: Free Speech Activists Whitewashing Wikipedia To Silence Dissent


If you’d told me a year ago that I’d be writing a blogpost in July 2016 about how EFF and TorProject supporters are actively censoring free speech on the internet, I would have thought I’d be writing it for The Onion. Unfortunately, I’m not. I have supported and amplified for EFF, the Tor Project and related organisations, staff members and campaigns relentlessly, for years. As a ‘Person of Interest’, I have relied on their enterprises to keep me safe. I have defended them ideologically and in principle, when they have been unfairly under attack. However in an unbelievably Orwellian twist, recent and current events have completely transformed the situation from free speech organisations being similarly under attack by the State, to the State using free speech organisations to attack enemies of the State, and free speech as a whole.

contraspin.co.nz

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Linux Australia backflips on Appelbaum stance


Linux Australia has done a backflip on its stance over privacy advocate Jacob Appelbaum who was recently thrown out of several software groupings following numerous accusations of sexual harassment. On Friday, LA president Hugh Blemings issued a statement on the group's main mailing list, saying that Appelbaum would not be invited to the next Australian national Linux conference (LCA 2017) or to the next event on LA's calendar, its annual Python conference which is known as PyCon Australia.

itwire.com

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The Weaponising Of Social Part 2: Stomping On IOError’s Grave


I once tried to tell Jacob Appelbaum a funny joke. He did not think it was funny. In fact, he was visibly mortified and uncomfortable. My joke was a retelling of something that had happened to me when I was still on the opposite side of the planet. I have a really dark, sardonic, acerbic Kiwi sense of humour, that has been sharpened by surviving everything that has been thrown at me to date. Unfortunately, it didn’t translate well. Fortunately, he didn’t make a smear website lambasting me about it. Warning There are Persons of Interest who the surveillance state merely monitors – and there are those who it actively harms. The latter, and those who facilitate and inflict that harm, will instantly understand that every word of this article is true. Everyone else is going to need to read carefully, do a lot of thinking, and click on all the links and their source links in turn. For this post is not just about a group of women who accused Jacob Appelbaum of heinous assaults and social improprieties, although that will be extensively covered. This article is, as promised, about the mammoth and monumental, colossal issues which are intertwined with that and are conveniently being overshadowed by it. For we are all being polarised into a fake diametric supposition – that either Jacob Appelbaum targets people, or Jacob Appelbaum is being targeted. But the real target is WikiLeaks.

theindicter.com The Weaponising Of Social Part 1

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No more rock stars: how to stop abuse in tech communities


Content note for discussion of abuse and sexual violence. In the last couple of weeks, three respected members of the computer security and privacy tech communities have come forward under their own names to tell their harrowing stories of sexual misconduct, harassment, and abuse committed by Jacob Appelbaum. They acted in solidarity with the first anonymous reporters of Jacob’s abuse. Several organizations have taken steps to protect their members from Appelbaum, including the Tor Project, Debian, and the Noisebridge hackerspace, with other responses in progress.

hypatia.ca

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Linux Australia adopts wait-and-see approach on Appelbaum


Linux Australia has predictably chosen to take the safe option in the case of well-known privacy advocate Jacob Appelbaum who has been chucked out of various free software projects and associations after sexual misconduct charges were levelled at him. The organisation has said it will not place any restrictions on Appelbaum's potential participation in any of its events until "facts in this matter become clear".

itwire.com

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Security expert Appelbaum no longer part of Debian


Well-known privacy advocate and developer Jacob Appelbaum is no longer a member of the Debian GNU/Linux project, with his status as developer having been revoked as of 18 June. Whether he was thrown out or chose to go on his own is unclear. Clarification has been siought from Debian leader Mehdi Dogguy. Appelbaum left the Tor project, a system enabling anonymous online communication, on 2 June after charges of sexual misconduct were raised against him.

twire.com

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