| TRIGGER WARNING This article or section, or pages it links to, contains information about sexual assault and/or violence which may be triggering to survivors. |
In May 2016, the Tor project blog announced that Jacob Appelbaum was stepping down from the project. Appelbaum, who often uses the handle "ioerror", is a longtime member of the information security community and supporter of Julian Assange.
Shortly afterward, multiple Tor developers publicly accused Appelbaum of rape.
On May 24, @puellavulnerata tweeted "A precommitment:", followed by a hexadecimal string. [1] On June 2, @puellavulnerata revealed that the previously-tweeted string was the SHA256 hash of the string "It seems one rapist is one rapist too many\n". [2]
On May 27, the domain jacobappelbaum.net was registered; at this writing, it contains personal accounts from 5 different people who experienced sexual assault or inappropriate sexual conduct committed by Appelbaum.
On June 3, @maradydd tweeted:
"[Tor's blog post] is a gross disservice to the Tor community. People deserve to know why Tor evicted its resident sociopath." -- [3]
"Jake finally raped enough people that Tor as an organisation couldn't ignore it anymore." -- [4]
Responses
- In a June 6 blog post, Lex Gill wrote:
What I’ve learned is that the real test is what happens after the accused makes a statement. One that muddies the waters, takes partial responsibility, questions the stability of his victims, implies ulterior motives. One that exposes a flawed process, or sheds light on true-yet-unflattering internal politics that make things seem “complicated.”
He’s been reflecting carefully, you know. On his values. He was going through a tough time, before this. He is “dismayed” and “dishearted” and “troubled” and “ashamed” and “hurt.” If there is truth to these allegations, if that’s what the victims “believe happened” then he wants to make it right with them. His is a politics of ownership. He is an ally. He is kinky. He is sorry for your misunderstanding.
- In a blog post later the same day, Appelbaum wrote:
...a calculated and targeted attack has been launched to spread vicious and spurious allegations against me.... Vague rumors and smear campaigns against me are nothing new. As a longtime public advocate for free speech and a secure internet, there have been plenty of attempts to undermine my work over the years.
Now, however, these unsubstantiated and unfounded attacks have become so aggressive that I feel it’s necessary to set the record straight. Not only have I been the target of a fake website in my name that has falsely accused me of serious crimes, but I have also received death threats (including a Twitter handle entitled ‘TimeToDieJake’).
I think it’s extremely damaging to the community that these character-assassination tactics are being deployed, especially given their ugly history of being used against fellow members of the LGBT community. It pains me to watch the community to which I’ve dedicated so much of my life engage in such self-destructive behavior. Nonetheless, I am prepared to use legal channels, if necessary, to defend my reputation from these libelous accusations.
I want to be clear: the accusations of criminal sexual misconduct against me are entirely false.
Inevitably, there may have been moments in my professional or private life when I may have inadvertently hurt or offended others’ feelings. Whenever I was aware of these instances, I have, and will continue to, apologize to the friends and colleagues in question and to continually learn how to be a better person. Though the damage to my reputation caused by these allegations alone is impossible to undo, I nonetheless take the concerns of the Tor community seriously....
(Backup copy on on archive.is)
Further reading
- "Jacob Appelbaum, Digital Rights Activist, Leaves Tor Amid Sexual Misconduct Allegations", Jack Smith IV for mic.com, 2016-06-04
- Account of harassment by Appelbaum, Nick Farr, 2016-06-05