‘Tor Project’ Scandal Update: Applebaum Guilty, More Cases Found, New Policies

The “Tor Project” has been plagued with a sexual harassment scandal that involved one of its key figures for some time. Jacob Appelbaum was one of the lead developers of the project, but he was recently forced to resign from his post before the reports of sexual misconduct on his part were even proven true. In the wake of the investigation, two other similar cases were found, which led the group to implement new policies to prevent future incidents.

As a digital privacy group, the “Tor Project” naturally valued discretion when handling anything pertaining to their work. So when it was revealed that one of its high-profile personnel reportedly harassed, humiliated, bullied and directed unwanted sexual advances, an internal probe was launched. As the Washington Post notes, the charges filed against Appelbaum were confirmed by the investigation.

The group wrote about the incident and its results on a blog post, where Shari Steele, the executive director of the Tor Project outlined the details of the scandal. Steele also wrote that she had invited victims to come forward and share their side of the story, to which many responded.

According to TechCrunch, the investigation also uncovered sexual misconduct from two other individuals. Steele neglected to name the couple in question, but she said that they have since left the project. The group has since introduced new policies to prevent similar cases from happening in the future.

Applebaum is a well-known journal and activist who was even considered by many as a champion of online privacy. He worked at WikiLeaks during the whole Edward Snowden debacle and has been vocal about the propensity of ISPs and internet brands to gather private user information and then distribute them to corporations for ad revenue.

When rumors about his behavior started circulating around the web, Appelbaum chose to be silent on the matter instead of aggressively denying the allegations. The most assertive statement he made about the scandal was to say that the charges were “false.”