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Jacob Appelbaum, an outspoken privacy advocate and key developer for the Tor Project, has resigned from his position at Tor in the midst of a sexual abuse scandal. The non-profit Tor Project, which is known for its open source private Web browser, released a statement acknowledging that unnamed victims had made “serious, public allegations of sexual mistreatment” against Appelbaum.
In his own statement, Appelbaum said the allegations were “a calculated and targeted attack [that] has been launched to spread vicious and spurious allegations against me.” He added, “I want to be clear: the accusations of criminal sexual misconduct against me are entirely false.”
Another member of the Tor Project told Wired, “Sadly…I think it’s the damn truth. He’s a charismatic, socially dominant manipulator. I absolutely believe the accusers.”
Some industry watchers say that the incident points to a larger trend of sexist behavior and sexual harassment within the development industry in general and the open source community in particular.
