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  1. <nettime> #jakegate explained ... by a Dummy
  2. To: nettime-l {AT} kein.org
  3. Subject: <nettime> #jakegate explained ... by a Dummy
  4. From: Patrice Riemens <patrice {AT} xs4all.nl>
  5. Date: Thu, 13 Oct 2016 15:44:30 +0200
  6. NB Two days ago, The Guardian newspaper published a long article
  7. about Jacob Appelbaum, the first text in mainstream media since
  8. the two pieces in Die Zeit Online (see refs below), and only the
  9. second publication I am aware of since the storm around 'Jake' abated
  10. somewhere in last Summer.
  11.  
  12. https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2016/oct/11/jacob-appelbaum-tor-project-sexual-assault-allegations
  13.  
  14. This post was largely written in Romania a few weeks ago, and hence
  15. is not informed by the article in The Guardian. It also looks at the
  16. whole affair from a different angle, less focused on the person(age)
  17. himself.
  18.  
  19.  
  20.  
  21. #jakegate explained by ... a Dummy
  22.  
  23. Well, since there are so many texts written for dummies, I thought
  24. it would be nice to have one ... written by one. And as you see, I
  25. carefully choose my subject ...
  26.  
  27.  
  28.  
  29. The story going by the moniker #jakegate is, I assume largely known
  30. by nettime readers, but here's for an ultra-short ExecSum all the
  31. same: Jacob Appelbaum, aka ‘Jake’ is a prominent hacker-activist
  32. whose precipitous fall from grace and reputation has stunned the
  33. digerati scene. End May/begin of June this year (2016), organisations
  34. at the forefront of the battles for privacy and security like the TOR
  35. project, the CCC, Debian, and others, quite brutally scuttled him
  36. amidst accusation of (longstanding) sexual and social misbehaviour.
  37. But by now a backlash has also occurred as the same organisations
  38. stand accused of precipitate, non-transparent, and largely unfounded
  39. decision making - all this with 'Jake' himself largely disappearing
  40. from view.
  41.  
  42. My reason for writing this piece is to try to understand - even if
  43. largely for my own sake – the circumstances and group processes
  44. that have been at work in creating this rather startling, though
  45. not totally unanticipated fracas. As a general disclaimer, I should
  46. reiterate that I am truly a dummy in this, in the sense that I am not
  47. an insider, even if I know a few ones. And all I do know stems from
  48. publicly available sources, of course supplemented by a few private
  49. talks – but don’t expect confidential information to be disclosed,
  50. since there was actually none. I do know Jake personally however,
  51. since 2003, and I have followed his activities ever since, be it
  52. from quite a distance. Also 'Jake' knows who I am and has always be
  53. very friendly to me, but we have always been distant acquaintances
  54. nonetheless. In short, my locus standi is situated at the 'core
  55. periphery' to the circles and activities Jake was or is related with -
  56. to use a swanky term Geert Lovink and I once made up.
  57.  
  58. It may be needless to add and emphasize that ‘#jakegate’ is a very
  59. ‘complicated’ issue (as in Facebook), and that I tried to write
  60. about it, following Tacitus, ‘sine ira et studio’ ...
  61.  
  62. I have structured this text in four sections (plus a concluding
  63. part): Jake’s persona(ge); his social circle, mostly in Berlin; the
  64. organisations he is (was) part of; and the the wider, bad world of
  65. surveillance and repression this constituency is facing and combating.
  66. These sections cannot, however, be strictly separated, they flow and
  67. must weave readily together towards the concluding remarks on the
  68. #jakegate backlash and beyond.
  69.  
  70.  
  71. On Jake’s persona(ge)
  72.  
  73. It is self evident that Jake's character, as it appears to his social
  74. environment’s bystanders and to observers at large, provides a
  75. substantial, if by way insufficient, explanation of ‘#jakegate’.
  76. Even with some allowances, Jacob Appelbaum might be taken as
  77. exemplary for the phenomenon of a gifted, extrovert geek rising to
  78. prominence, not to say ‘rock star’ status, amidst the general
  79. hacker alternative, and mainstream, media hype. The by now fairly well
  80. documented mix of autism (-lite), mental (over)activity, sociopathy
  81. (-lite), maybe best captured by the German word ‘Drang’ - the
  82. ‘urge’ to do ‘something’ - can all be observed, and then in no
  83. small measure, with Jacob Appelbaum. Add precociousness and young age,
  84. and you have the potent combination which might largely – but again,
  85. not entirely – explain how 'Jake' ended up in the predicament that
  86. is now his.
  87.  
  88.  
  89. On Jake’s social environment and the groups he is/was in - in
  90. Berlin, mostly.
  91.  
  92. Another tentative, partial explanation may be found in the nature
  93. and ongoings within the social circles 'Jake' has been moving in the
  94. past years in Berlin, that ‘poor but sexy’ capital which had
  95. overtaken Amsterdam as the place to be if you are young, worldly,
  96. engaged - and poor and sexy. From the early 2000's the city had
  97. become an international magnet to all sorts of creative people and
  98. voluntary organisations, eager to contribute to the “an other world
  99. is possible” idea. Berlin has obvious ‘locational’ advantages
  100. in terms of situation in the geographical and political centre of
  101. Europe and because of its convenience in terms of affordable housing,
  102. cheap food, and a dynamic cultural life (with a frothy night scene to
  103. boot). But it is also the political climate and constitutional set-up
  104. of Germany that had made Berlin a place of choice for ‘technological
  105. refugees’, mostly from the USA, and thanks to its thriving IT scene,
  106. also a hotbed of digital political activism.
  107.  
  108. Yet at the same time it should be noted that these circles are not
  109. that large - in the low hundreds in terms of number of members –
  110. and that they are more close-knit and culturally, demographically,
  111. and socially homogeneous than is normally the case in the larger
  112. society. In short, young (20/30-ish), single, english speaking, sort
  113. of full time artists/activists in one way or another. Add to this
  114. the pressure of operating against, and hence enduring the special
  115. attention cum repression from the Surveillance Empire, which makes it
  116. easy to imagine a situation where one is living permanently at the
  117. edge, with all its accompanying features like red eye nights, sexual
  118. promiscuity, alcohol and substance (ab)use, and what have you. A
  119. perfect setting for a scenario whose script can easily veer into all
  120. kinds of, err, ‘configurations’ ...
  121.  
  122.  
  123. On the organisations Jake works or has worked for
  124.  
  125. Following on the factual demise of parliamentary political parties,
  126. trade unions, and of the ‘quality’ press as avenues of criticism
  127. and influencing the governance process, the 'NGO-isation of advocacy
  128. and of politics at large has led to the rise of a large number of
  129. voluntary initiatives, whose common characteristics - for the majority
  130. of them - appears to be small in size, and to be run by far too few
  131. underpaid (or not paid at all) people chasing far too many issues at
  132. the same time. This often results in near-mandatory commitment to a
  133. 24/7 work schedule, with its concomitant risks of stress, burnout,
  134. wayward behaviour, etc. This is especially the case with those
  135. outfits focusing on the variegated and nefarious manifestations of
  136. the 'deep state' (see below), and then more particularly in the realm
  137. of surveillance and repression. It is clear that such organisations
  138. and their personnel are themselves 'targets', not to say fair game,
  139. for the aforementioned deep state's agencies and services, and this
  140. equally on a 24/7 footing. Another aspect is that such outfits,
  141. despite their small size, 'enjoy' an inordinately large, and usually
  142. sensationalist media coverage every time they manage to uncover yet
  143. another 'scandal', enhancing at the same time their popularity among
  144. some sections of the public (academics, activists, 'progressive'
  145. people). This all makes for a very heady atmosphere, difficult both to
  146. avoid and to resist. And this has been Jake's 'natural biotope' for
  147. quite a number of years past.
  148.  
  149. Their good work in exposing states' misbehaviour, and even crimes
  150. notwithstanding, such organisations have their dark sides also. Their
  151. small size results in a very limited number of people, or even a
  152. single person (as in a SPO, Single Person Organisation) acting without
  153. very much of an oversight, if at all. To this. organisations involved
  154. in the more 'sensitive' aspects of politics add an extra, justifiable
  155. but nonetheless secretive, opaque layer to their activities. Which
  156. in turn often leads to a permanent state of paranoia, a tunnel
  157. vision due to over-focussing on the outfit's specific issues (at
  158. the expense of looking at the world at large - or at life itself),
  159. and generally a form of dogmatism in both their internal and their
  160. external functioning. It had also as reverse a clear tendency to
  161. delusion of grandeur, exaggerating the importance and the impact of
  162. both the group(s) and the issues at stake among the general public.
  163. And then, also the effects of cut-throat competition in the permanent
  164. hunt for funding and attention among such outfits should not be
  165. overlooked. Finally, both their rhetorics as they working practices
  166. are essentially not that far removed from the modus operandi of
  167. commercial (IT) start-ups, with whom they appear to share (almost)
  168. the same recruitment demographics: young, bright, dynamic, hip - and
  169. single.
  170.  
  171. The unhappy conclusion is that such organisations are always at risk,
  172. in the end, to veer towards becoming ineffective at best, and morally
  173. bankrupt at worst. Looking, for instance, at the recent management and
  174. political decision-making processes at the TOR foundation triggered by
  175. '#jakegate' don't make one overly optimistic.
  176.  
  177.  
  178. On the wider (and bad) world of big government, big corporation, and
  179. their oppressive practices of surveillance and control.
  180.  
  181. First, I think we need to realize that, in society at large, the
  182. number of people truly concerned, and actively engaging, with the
  183. above issue is incredibly tiny (and shockingly so, even if it is
  184. slowly growing). To most citizens, this is a 'far-from-my-bed-show',
  185. and one they feel utterly powerless about at the same time. Activists
  186. and their organisations sometimes achieve a big media breakthrough and
  187. subsequent, but ephemeral, hype (Wikileaks, Snowden), but most of the
  188. time, awareness, concern, and hence political consequences remain at
  189. a low level, which might in part explain why measures progressively
  190. regulating and restraining citizen's rights and liberties end up so
  191. smoothly in the statute books.
  192.  
  193. But near-zero awareness is surely not what can be ascribed to the
  194. corporate intelligence contractors banding together with secretive
  195. government agencies, a complex best represented by the concept
  196. of 'deep state'(*). While the former 'partners' are primarily
  197. concerned with protecting and extending their business interests
  198. - which includes supporting, or at least not opposing, the most
  199. outlandish repressive measures by the state agencies when it suits
  200. them, the latter, on the other hand, will go in the end for outright
  201. elimination, physical if necessary, of their opponents and critics, be
  202. it individual or groups. These are the forces groups and organisations
  203. 'Jake' works(/ed) for are confronting - making them clear targets.
  204. How precisely and to what extent is difficult to ascertain - beyond
  205. at points of obvious contact, in the form of protracted harassment at
  206. border crossings for instance. This gives rise to speculations fast
  207. drifting into conspiracy theories - something that is not entirely to
  208. the displeasure of aforementioned agencies. I neither wish nor can say
  209. very much more about this, save than to presume that the situation is
  210. both pretty much calamitous and also not amenable to any (re)solution.
  211.  
  212. Resistance may be the answer to what has probably become the essential
  213. constitutional issue of our times, but I am afraid not to see a
  214. positive outcome evolving unless it mutates into a real law and order
  215. problem for the powers that be. And this is in my view exactly the
  216. point where the above mentioned organisations and their associates,
  217. supporters, and techie-activists fail to enact the effective mix of
  218. political strategy, street-level tactics, and technological fixes,
  219. usually by prioritizing the last option at the expense of the two
  220. others.
  221.  
  222.  
  223. In conclusion
  224.  
  225. As could be read, I have not at all addressed the question of Jacob
  226. Appelbaum's (very?) possible culpability in the matter of sexual
  227. harassment and uncivil/a-social behaviour - the mainstay of the
  228. #jakegate brouhaha. This is on purpose, since all evidence, as evinced
  229. in various interventions by equally various parties, point, to use
  230. Facebook's inimitable phrase, towards a 'it's complicated' verdict.
  231. Nonetheless, what I think is more important at this stage, also in
  232. view of the above mentioned evidence, or alleged lack thereof, is the
  233. conclusions the groups and organisations involved, as well as 'Jake'
  234. himself will draw for the future, and how his personal situation
  235. will evolve as a consequence. Now that he has been expelled from
  236. pretty much all the outfits he was associated with (Wikilekas appear
  237. to be an exception, for reasons that may - or may not - be easily
  238. guessed) the question is one of what 'Jake' is going to do next.
  239. For better or for worse, what has happened is beyond recall. With
  240. his 'rockstar' status clearly revoked - a good thing - I believe
  241. it is important for 'Jake' to start afresh and find sustainable
  242. footing in a much more modest and withdrawn role, something that is
  243. also the responsibility of his (former) 'Umfeld to make possible,
  244. or at the very least not to try to thwart it in a senseless pursuit
  245. of revenge. I am thinking of his pursuance of a Phd at Eindhoven
  246. Technical University, something that could constitute a perfect
  247. opportunity for retreat and 'reconfiguration'.
  248.  
  249. To people who feel they have been to have been aggrieved by 'Jake'
  250. one way or another, and they might have good reasons to feel so,
  251. I would suggest that some 'truth and atonement' get together be
  252. organised, say in one year from now. In the end, whatever the way one
  253. wishes to describe those concerned by or involved in '#jakegate' in
  254. terms of a community (and that might also include some people in the
  255. nettime readership), then that 'we' must strive, immo, to overcome the
  256. conflict by learning its lessons ("no more rockstars" would be a good
  257. starter), and not repeat the same mistakes, neither at the individual,
  258. nor at the collective level.
  259.  
  260. ------
  261.  
  262. (*) A good exposition is Mike Lofgren: Anatomy of the Deep State (2014)
  263. (http://billmoyers.com/2014/02/21/anatomy-of-the-deep-state/)
  264.  
  265.  
  266. Patrice Riemens
  267. Amsterdam, October 7, 2016
  268.  
  269. NB (but see the other NB at the head of this post)
  270.  
  271. I started writing this story in Transylvania, 3 weeks ago. I dropped
  272. it till now, but nothing appears to happened in between, just his
  273. (quite empty) home page at Eindhoven T.U seem to have moved a few
  274. ranks. In fact nothing (afaik) happened since the #jakegate blowup
  275. in May/June (Jake's last Tweet is dated June 6), save for a long
  276. interview in Die Zeit Digital mid-August:
  277.  
  278. http://www.zeit.de/kultur/2016-08/jacob-appelbaum-rape-allegations-contradictions
  279.  
  280. and
  281.  
  282. http://www.zeit.de/kultur/2016-08/jacob-appelbaum-rape-sexual-abuse-allegations
  283.  
  284.  
  285.  
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