6 ms·

Why did he leave?

cjcole 10y ago
In his statement of resignation he says that given recent events the Tor Project no longer meets his ethical standards, and that he will be ceasing all support, including financial and technical. Full statement: https://trac.torproject.org/projects/tor/ticket/19690 https://trac.torproject.org/projects/tor/ticket/19690 "Dear friends, Given recent events, it is no longer appropriate for me to materially contribute to the Tor Project either financially, as I have so generously throughout the years, nor by providing computing resources. This decision does not come lightly; I probably ran one of the first five nodes in the system and my involvement with Tor predates it being called "Tor" by many years. Nonetheless, I feel that I have no reasonable choice left within the bounds of ethics, but to announce the discontinuation of all Tor-related services hosted on every system under my control. Most notably, this includes the Tor node "Tonga", the "Bridge Authority", which I recognize is rather pivotal to the network Tonga will be permanently shut down and all associated crytographic keys destroyed on 2016-08-31. This should give the Tor developers ample time to stand up a substitute. I will terminate the chron job we set up so many years ago at that time that copies over the descriptors. In addition to Tonga, I will shut down a number of fast Tor relays, but the directory authorities should detect that shutdown quickly and no separate notice is needed here. I wish the Tor Project nothing but the best moving forward through those difficult times, --Lucky"
- exstudent2 10y ago
  Do we know what the "recent events" he's talking about are? Do they in someway threaten the security/anonymity of Tor? If this is more fallout from the extra-legal witch hunt applied against Jacob Appelbaum then it really is a shame to be losing project leaders over something not in anyway related to Tor tech.
  - dmix 10y ago
    I believe there was also some issues with management outside of the Appllebaum stuff.
chroma 10y ago
From https://blog.torproject.org/blog/statement-0 https://blog.torproject.org/blog/statement-0: > Many people inside and outside the Tor Project have reported incidents of being humiliated, intimidated, bullied and frightened by Jacob, and several experienced unwanted sexually aggressive behavior from him.
- exstudent2 10y ago
  Given this thread, I think these extra-legal accusations are part of the ethical concerns the OP had with the new Tor leadership. They started a witch hunt against Applebaum.
  - sp332 10y ago
    You don't need legal action to exclude someone from a community. Many people in the community are anarchists of various kinds, and some have been targeted by governments, including Jake himself. They would really rather not involve the state (any state). Here is what one of the victims wants: https://medium.com/@flexlibris/theres-really-no-such-thing-as-the-voiceless-92b3fa45134d#c6e8 https://medium.com/@flexlibris/theres-really-no-such-thing-a... It's not a witch hunt.
    - exstudent2 10y ago
      That definitely reads like a witch hunt as does this: http://jacobappelbaum.net/ http://jacobappelbaum.net/ Anarchist tendencies aside, I wouldn't be comfortable working with people who initiated this type of vigilante justice. Doesn't sound like Lucky Green was either.
    - pdkl95 10y ago
      Shava Nerad has a particularly good explanation of the situation: https://bbs.boingboing.net/t/jacob-appelbaum-tor-developer-and-wikileaks-staffer-resigns-amid-sex-abuse-claims/79189/41 https://bbs.boingboing.net/t/jacob-appelbaum-tor-developer-a... https://bbs.boingboing.net/t/jacob-appelbaum-tor-developer-and-wikileaks-staffer-resigns-amid-sex-abuse-claims/79189/87 https://bbs.boingboing.net/t/jacob-appelbaum-tor-developer-a... (or all "shava23" posts in that thread) > It's not a witch hunt. This is the very definition of a witch hunt. Vague accusations were made to provoke emotional us-vs-them tribalism. The problem with that is not only how it unfairly pre-judges the accused; it also obscures and confuses any legitimate accusations. Not wanting to involve a state is fine, and very understandable when the situation involves organizations that the state considers a threat. However, not involving a state doesn't mean anything-goes anarchy is the solution either. An alternative system should have been used, if the goal was justice instead of vengeance and witch hunts. The accused needs to be able to face their accuser and rebut the accusations. > targeted by governments, including Jake himself Regardless of everything else, that alone should be enough of a reason to be particularly careful with any accusations and follow a formal judicial process (which may not involve a state) with pedantic accuracy. > what one of the victims wants There is a lot of talk about justice and creating new systems to handle social problems. Unless I'm missing something, there is zero discussion about verifying the accusation. Nobody likes the state judicial system, but there's a reason it exists. Without some method of fairly handling accusations, we are left without closure and a divided community filled with suspicion and mistrust. "We have found our Kobiyashi-Maru." edit: I'll interpret multiple unexplained down votes as yet more evidence of a witch hunt. Hint: I haven't take a position on anybody's guilt or innocence.

Why did he leave?

In his statement of resignation he says that given recent events the Tor Project no longer meets his ethical standards, and that he will be ceasing all support, including financial and technical. Full statement: https://trac.torproject.org/projects/tor/ticket/19690 https://trac.torproject.org/projects/tor/ticket/19690 "Dear friends, Given recent events, it is no longer appropriate for me to materially contribute to the Tor Project either financially, as I have so generously throughout the years, nor by providing computing resources. This decision does not come lightly; I probably ran one of the first five nodes in the system and my involvement with Tor predates it being called "Tor" by many years. Nonetheless, I feel that I have no reasonable choice left within the bounds of ethics, but to announce the discontinuation of all Tor-related services hosted on every system under my control. Most notably, this includes the Tor node "Tonga", the "Bridge Authority", which I recognize is rather pivotal to the network Tonga will be permanently shut down and all associated crytographic keys destroyed on 2016-08-31. This should give the Tor developers ample time to stand up a substitute. I will terminate the chron job we set up so many years ago at that time that copies over the descriptors. In addition to Tonga, I will shut down a number of fast Tor relays, but the directory authorities should detect that shutdown quickly and no separate notice is needed here. I wish the Tor Project nothing but the best moving forward through those difficult times, --Lucky"

exstudent2 10y ago
Do we know what the "recent events" he's talking about are? Do they in someway threaten the security/anonymity of Tor? If this is more fallout from the extra-legal witch hunt applied against Jacob Appelbaum then it really is a shame to be losing project leaders over something not in anyway related to Tor tech.
- dmix 10y ago
  I believe there was also some issues with management outside of the Appllebaum stuff.

chroma 10y ago

From https://blog.torproject.org/blog/statement-0 https://blog.torproject.org/blog/statement-0: > Many people inside and outside the Tor Project have reported incidents of being humiliated, intimidated, bullied and frightened by Jacob, and several experienced unwanted sexually aggressive behavior from him.

exstudent2 10y ago
Given this thread, I think these extra-legal accusations are part of the ethical concerns the OP had with the new Tor leadership. They started a witch hunt against Applebaum.
- sp332 10y ago
  You don't need legal action to exclude someone from a community. Many people in the community are anarchists of various kinds, and some have been targeted by governments, including Jake himself. They would really rather not involve the state (any state). Here is what one of the victims wants: https://medium.com/@flexlibris/theres-really-no-such-thing-as-the-voiceless-92b3fa45134d#c6e8 https://medium.com/@flexlibris/theres-really-no-such-thing-a... It's not a witch hunt.
  - exstudent2 10y ago
    That definitely reads like a witch hunt as does this: http://jacobappelbaum.net/ http://jacobappelbaum.net/ Anarchist tendencies aside, I wouldn't be comfortable working with people who initiated this type of vigilante justice. Doesn't sound like Lucky Green was either.
  - pdkl95 10y ago
    Shava Nerad has a particularly good explanation of the situation: https://bbs.boingboing.net/t/jacob-appelbaum-tor-developer-and-wikileaks-staffer-resigns-amid-sex-abuse-claims/79189/41 https://bbs.boingboing.net/t/jacob-appelbaum-tor-developer-a... https://bbs.boingboing.net/t/jacob-appelbaum-tor-developer-and-wikileaks-staffer-resigns-amid-sex-abuse-claims/79189/87 https://bbs.boingboing.net/t/jacob-appelbaum-tor-developer-a... (or all "shava23" posts in that thread) > It's not a witch hunt. This is the very definition of a witch hunt. Vague accusations were made to provoke emotional us-vs-them tribalism. The problem with that is not only how it unfairly pre-judges the accused; it also obscures and confuses any legitimate accusations. Not wanting to involve a state is fine, and very understandable when the situation involves organizations that the state considers a threat. However, not involving a state doesn't mean anything-goes anarchy is the solution either. An alternative system should have been used, if the goal was justice instead of vengeance and witch hunts. The accused needs to be able to face their accuser and rebut the accusations. > targeted by governments, including Jake himself Regardless of everything else, that alone should be enough of a reason to be particularly careful with any accusations and follow a formal judicial process (which may not involve a state) with pedantic accuracy. > what one of the victims wants There is a lot of talk about justice and creating new systems to handle social problems. Unless I'm missing something, there is zero discussion about verifying the accusation. Nobody likes the state judicial system, but there's a reason it exists. Without some method of fairly handling accusations, we are left without closure and a divided community filled with suspicion and mistrust. "We have found our Kobiyashi-Maru." edit: I'll interpret multiple unexplained down votes as yet more evidence of a witch hunt. Hint: I haven't take a position on anybody's guilt or innocence.