My 2 cents on the @ioerror accusations.

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Okay, that’s it. I officially hate everything – everything – about the Jake Appelbaum (@ioerror) is X/Y/Z story.

I don’t have any profound insights into the veracity of any of the claims being made against him (whether it’s relating to bullying, harassment, plagiarism or sexual assault/rape), but I do have a few observations.

A) I don’t really know Jake. We’ve been been following each other on Twitter for a few years or so. We’ve got quite a few friends in common; we’ve corresponded a bit and we’ve met and spoken a few times (I’m not comfortable providing details, so suffice to say, it’s been in relation to the ridiculous trial of Anakata and a young Danish hacker, where Jake served as a witness for the defense, and in relation to various Snowden//Bill Binney matters). Jake’s been nothing but civil and courteous to me and everybody else during these encounters, as far as I've seen.

B) I don’t really know the people making the accusations against Jake Appelbaum; but in several cases we’ve been following each other on Twitter for a few years or so. We’ve got quite a few friends in common. In many (most?) of the cases, I like and respect them and their work. I’ve corresponded with more than one of them, on and off over the past years. They’ve been nothing but civil and courteous to me during these exchanges.

C) All the things Jake is accused of, are disgusting; pretty much of an A-Z of bad behavior. Everybody, whether it’s in “the community”, or in broader society should get their shit together and unite in condemnation of such behavior, no matter who perpetrates it or who it’s being done against, instead of pretending it’s no big deal.

D) One of the accusations – Rape – is absolutely horrible, which is why I find it so extremely disturbing, that all the different accusations are mixed together, as if a (the?) goal of the “campaign against Jake” is to make it known, that’s he’s a bad person/scumbag/creep. If Jake raped someone, I couldn’t care less about his other (alleged) shitty behavior; I would want the rapist brought to justice. If Jake didn’t rape somebody; accusing him of rape is monstrous, no matter what the hell he’s done or hasn't done.

E) I don’t care about your politics

F) The people saying: “none of this can be true, because Jake’s so cool” should go fuck themselves.

The people saying: “obviously this is all true, because Jake’s a creep” should go fuck themselves.

G) The media covering this really, really, really should be careful. It seems like one of the allegations (sexual assault in a hotel lobby) is collapsing (the alleged victim seemingly just stepped forward, denying any wrongdoing on Jake’s part: http://www.twitlonger.com/show/n_1sop8ps - this is simply horrible; to Jake, to this alleged/non-alleged victim, and to the other alleged victims (assuming their stories ARE actually true).

H) Talking points about “believing victims” and talking points about government plots should go fuck themselves. This isn’t politics,; not identity politics, not mass surveillance politics. This is a case of (several) people making serious allegations against an individual. Talking points – from either direction – won’t make them go away, nor should they.

I) Due process (whether by the legal system or by other means) is the only way forward. All parties needs to be heard, instead of prejudged, lynch-mobbed, victim-blamed and forced into boxes magically fitting whatever opinion you happened to hold the day before all the accusations emerged.

J) I really, really hope everybody with experiences relevant to the allegations steps forward, either officially (like a few people on “both sides” already did) or through trusted third parties, to help get to the bottom of it. There's no logical conclusion to this, that doesn't involve (at least) one of the parties being really, really shitty. Everybody deserves to know, to make this right.

H) Fuck.

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