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Tor Project Confirms Sexual Misconduct By Developer Jacob Appelbaum (theverge.com)
An anonymous reader quotes a report from The Verge: The Tor Project, a nonprofit known for its online anonymity software, says it has verified claims that former employee Jacob Appelbaum engaged in "sexually aggressive behavior" with people inside and outside of its organization. "We have confirmed that the events did take place as reported," Shari Steele, Tor's executive director, tells The Verge. In a blog post today, Steele says that Tor began an investigation into Appelbaum's behavior after several people came forward with allegations of misconduct in late May. In a statement made in June, he said the allegations were "entirely false." He resigned from the Tor Project in May. "I want to thank all the people who broke the silence around Jacob's behavior," Steele writes. "It is because of you that this issue has now been addressed. I am grateful you spoke up, and I acknowledge and appreciate your courage." Steele says that Tor is now implementing a new anti-harassment policy, as well as a process for submitting complaints and having them reviewed. The changes will be put in place this week. Tor also announced last month that it would replace its entire board of directors.
This kind of accusation is usually BS to frame politically dangerous people. Case in point, Julian Assange.
Tor is backdoored. You can see that from the ease with which the Feds locate sites and users. Thus its one and only use: bringing free, anonymous, speech to people in repressive regimes, its ended.
When a company first sacks someone facing no charges, then hires a PI to confirm their reason for sacking, even though he's not claiming wrongful dismissal. That pretty much tells you that the organization is stuff full of bad actors. They go beyond any allegations and into a hatchet job.
And those bad actors delivered exactly what is expected. Good people gone, bad people in, product *demonstrably* no longer works for its primary purpose. When outside universities can point out 100 fake attack nodes, that Tor Project somehow didn't notice, that tells you they are more bad than good in there.
So a new thing has to be made, and that new thing has to be made from trustable people. And that is Jacob.
These "we slept together and he licked my muff and that's rape because I didn't agree before hand he could lick my muff, only share the bed"... these are Assange style attacks, they were disclosed in the Snowden leaks, and they just make him more, demonstrably honest:
https://theintercept.com/2014/02/24/jtrig-manipulation/
"By publishing these stories one by one, our NBC reporting highlighted some of the key, discrete revelations: the monitoring of YouTube and Blogger, the targeting of Anonymous with the very same DDoS attacks they accuse “hacktivists” of using, the use of “honey traps” (luring people into compromising situations using sex) and destructive viruses. "
Anonymous, secure, free speech trumps any of this shit, and a secure network delivered by a trusted person is necessary now. That's not Tor.
This kind of accusation is usually BS to frame politically dangerous people.
Um. No. Seriously and respectfully ask some of your female friends what kind of misconduct they've experienced in the workplace. You may be amazed.
Real lawyers write in C++
Ever since gamergate my concepts of fair reporting, harassment, he said she said have been seriously adjusted. There was totally horrible people, saying horrible things, but it seems only one side of the story is ever reported, making people more and more jaded and cynical of the media.
Stories such as Linus specifically having to avoid spending any time with females one on one as he's been "targeted for take down". Situations of outright false claims against people, proven clear and still people write incorrect articles about them, deliberately.
This story may well be correct, however in the very very least, I will no longer blindly leap into "condemn them, silence them!!" mode as is intended. I am particularly skeptical when a "harassment policy" is put in place too, as those have been going a general indicator of people "meddling in the name of righteousness " regardless if there was even a problem in the first place.
Be wise and if you read the article at least try to find multiple sources and preferably the other side of the story. At least GG taught me take stuff on the Internet with again of salt finally.
P.s off topic , I used to see posts whining about how awful Slashdot mobile is, I thought the people were exaggerating. They aren't, it's a warcrime.
There is always a reason, though not always obvious. Tor is now shit, because the good people were chased away. Notice that there are no criminal charges anywhere, just allegations and accusations repeated over and over on any media outlet that would print it. Lead developer gone, whole new board being elected, one should be rather suspicious.
Now for the tin foil hat: A whole lot of money and effort goes into taking over a project like Tor, and as we saw with the Snowden NSA leaks it is a global exploitation at least after the fact. China, the US, the UK, and just about everyone else suddenly has no problem finding people on Tor networks. All of those same groups can claim ignorance when the cat jumps out of the bag.
Sometimes it's not easy to see who benefits and a clear goal. That is when you need to look around to see why you are being distracted.
-The wise argue that there are few absolutes, the fool argues that there are no probabilities.
That is one lousy article. The name of the guy is the only thing revealed, and that is a journalistic no-no IMO: you don't give the full name unless charges have been proven. By a judge. About the nature of his "misconduct", the article is very vague: it's couched in different terms, but it's never made clear what happened, when, where, in what context and who were the victims. It also focuses on the sexual transgressions, and only gives a fleeting reference to people being "humiliated, intimidated, bullied", without explaining why. I understand there is some sort of political battle that largely includes both sides in parallel, and that is not even hinted at. In short, it's bad journalism.
What is "sexual mistreatment"? I can't find any info in the article, or the link within that was purported to contain more information.
Given that this kind of accusation can permanently prevent someone from finding work in their field, I find these articles--lacking details, with no formal legal proceedings--troubling.
A cat can't teach a dog to bark.
I had absolutely no idea that Shari Steele and the Tor Project Administration was a court of law!
Oh wait, they're not? Fascinating!
But boy howdy, you gotta admire their moxie. After all they did their own little investigation and found him guilty all by themselves. No pesky evidence or defense lawyers needed -- just enough harpies claiming victimization (but not enough to actually go to the police) and you too can destroy someone's life forever. ... ESPECIALLY interesting since one of the "victims" later pointed out that she wasn't a victim, it was a bunch of SJWs speaking on her behalf without permission to create a lynch mob towards Jacob...
(Although I have it on good authority she's suffering from internalized misogyny and thus you should believe the 3rd party witnesses over her statements, because Third Wave Feminists represent all women, even women who don't want to be represented by them. ESPECIALLY those kinds of women.)
Remember there was an active attempt to frame Linus Torvalds with sexual assault allegations. Around the same time you saw these types trying to push codes of conduct that were backdoors to get editorial control over projects they were targeting.
So everyone needs to be a tiny bit wary when hearing stories like this, especially when you see these SJW style shame lynch mob tactics used. No evidence, mobbing tactics, public shaming, threatening people who question the narrative, and demanding reparations for perceived slights in the form of policy changes and increased decision making power to their political allies. It's a playbook that targets some known exploits in our culture -- namely that everyone's hesitant to demand evidence of an overly emotional woman, and everyone's first response is to beat up whomever she's pointing at and ask questions later.
If there are actual allegations, they need to be taken to a court of law. If they won't hold up in a court of law, recognize it for what it is -- bitchy ex girlfriends wanting to slander an ex boyfriend they're mad at. Don't let the Kangaroo Court bullshit that's infested our campuses start leaking out into the real world.
And if you want to implement an "anti-harassment" policy for your project: Don't. It's a stupid fucking idea leading to drama and abuse by lesser minds.
If you are really looking for a nice Code of Conduct, aim for the Code of Merit - because as ESR has so adamantly pointed out, "We must constantly demand merit – performance, intelligence, dedication, and technical excellence – of ourselves and each other."
SJW Codes of Conduct like the Orwellian Contributor Covenant by Coraline Ada Ehmke (who is tied to Model View Culture, which is ran by white supremacist "feminist" Shanley Kane, which is also tied to the Ada Initiative's two founders, which was the group attempting to frame Linus for rape...) are nothing more than a way to backdoor losers like Ehmke and her ilk into projects they don't deserve access to.