UPDATE: We recieved the following reply from cryptome:

Sorry, nobody stoppered Cryptome on Towery, and no under-rugging -- sloth, sure. Several links at our page head to Towery, etc. were superceded; a change from listing offsite links at the page bottom. The story got continuing coverage elsewhere. Two persons wrote on July 27 that Wikileaks offered the WAJAC spying doc, and that also got wide play via Wikileaks' PR stream (copied to us) so no need for another host. Still, don't trust what we say, ever, in cahoots pandemicly

Cryptome.org, the site run by crypto-anarchist John Young that publishes thousands of censored, classified, and secret documents seems to have tried to sweep an issue under the rug: that of informant John Towery infiltrating anti-war groups in Olympia/Tacoma, WA. This story has been covered by major media outlets including Democracy Now! and the New York Times, so what is Cryptome so afraid of?

According to the Cryptome website, "Cryptome welcomes documents for publication that are prohibited by governments worldwide, in particular material on freedom of expression, privacy, cryptology, dual-use technologies, national security, intelligence, and secret governance—open, secret and classified documents—but not limited to those". The John Towery story certainly sounds like it fits within these guidelines. Furthermore, the Cryptome website states that content will only be removed if forced by a US Court Order.

One could speculate that the feds paid a visit to Young's residence, but in the past these types of encounters have been widely publicized and haven't resulted in content being taken down. Furthermore, the administrator of the website JohnTowery.com, which has acted as a clearinghouse for information published on the US Army informant that was undercover for over two years, states that they haven't received any visits from anybody in law enforcement, let alone somebody who could force them to take down content. On the same token, nobody in Olympia has received any visits from three letter agencies. Seattle Indymedia, Democracy Now, Portland Indymedia, JohnTowery.com, and numerous other websites host the pictures of the informant that have disappeared off of Cryptome as well as a lot of other information on the story itself.

But the story gets deeper. After the pictures and information about the informant disappeared from Cryptome, a few days later a news clipping and a link to the johntowery.com website appeared only to disappear yet again today.

So what does this tell us about Cryptome? Not much, but it might tell us something about the John Towery story that we already knew: it's a huge fucking deal.

If you want to ask cryptome about this incident, you can contact them at cryptome{at}earthlink.net

This Saturday, Feb. 28, the Olympia Hackbloc (olyhackbloc.org) will be leading a workshop on security culture, computer security, intelligence, and privacy.

Topics to be covered:

• What encryption is and how it works -
• How to encrypt files, emails, or your entire computer
• How to 'harden' your computer (how to secure it)
• What security culture is and how to implement it
• How to protect your privacy online and in real life
• How to publish, communicate, and browse the web anonymously
• How to deal with informants, infiltrators, provocateurs, etc.
• How to work with sources and leak documents/information

All participants will receive digital copies of the presentation materials. To help cover costs, participants are asked to bring $5 with them or donate whatever they feel is fair. Nobody will be turned away because they don't have money. If you have a computer, you are highly encouraged to bring it. Flash drives and external hard drives would also be useful. A large portion of this workshop will be hands-on computer work. If you have extra computers, extension cords, power strips, blank CDs, flash drives, or external hard drives please bring them as well. This workshop is targeted towards activists, journalists, and members of the general public.

** Event information **

Security Culture, Computer Security, and Privacy: A Crash Course for Activists, Journalists, and the General Public Saturday Feb. 28 at The Evergreen State College 11 AM SHARP till Approx. 3 PM Meet in main floor lobby of the library building, and look for the Hackbloc signs. Bring your computer We are interested in filming portions of the workshop. If you have a video camera you can donate, please contact workshops@olyhackbloc.org asap. Media and press wishing to cover this event should contact press@olyhackbloc.org prior. For more information about Hackbloc, please see the Oly Hackbloc website at http://www.olyhackbloc.org.

-- Sponsored by Evergreen/Olympia Students for Democratic Society, which meets every Wednesday at 6:00 in the Solarium of the CAB building at Evergreen --