Jacob Appelbaum has been a contentious personality within the InfoSec industry for many years. Until recently, it has been primarily based on personal interactions and perception. There have been frequent accusations of Appelbaum "stealing work", but there is a lack of documented cases. On May 25, 2016, many people published their interactions with Appelbaum that included a wide variety of transgressions, including mental abuse, humiliation, intimidation, bullying, sexual misconduct, and rape.
While such accusations, seemingly out of nowhere, might be suspect, it has become apparent that Appelbaum's activities have been swept under the proverbial rug for many years, possibly for a decade. Within the first week of the accusations becoming public, some level of debate and counter claims appeared. People that appear to be friends or allies of Appelbaum have come forward saying that many (or all) of the accusations are false, while others familiar with him have said all of the accusations are entirely true.
At the time of this Errata posting (2016-07-30), we cannot and will not say definitely that the accusations are true or false. That said, we will show a variety of links regarding the accusations and let the reader make their own choice.
Update: Caleb James DeLisle has created a GitHub project named 'JakeGate' that documents allegations against Jacob Appelbaum, breaks the accusations out into categories, and provides a timeline. The project accepts community contributions under certain guidelines. Additionally, 'Enegnei' has created a GitHub project based on Appelbaum leaving the Tor project that includes news, posts, and links related to his departure.
A web site has been set up to collect stories and accusations of sexual abuse and misconduct at jacobappelbaum.net.
