Jacob Appelbaum Banned From Prominent Hacker Conference Following Sexual Assault Allegations

Jacob Appelbaum has been banned from Chaos Computer Club events following numerous allegations that he sexually assaulted women and acted inappropriately at hacker events. Appelbaum regularly spoke at CCC events like Chaos Communication Congress and Chaos Communication Camp.

Appelbaum stepped down from his development role at the Tor project, which builds anonymity software, following internal complaints of alleged sexual assault. Last year, Appelbaum presented “The State of the Onion,” an annual update on The Tor Project, at Chaos Communication Congress. Other prominent figures in the digital privacy community have given talks at CCC, like Pulitzer Prize winning journalist and author of the Snowden disclosures Glenn Greenwald.

Since he stepped down from the Tor Project, more women have come forward to accuse Appelbaum of sexual misconduct. In a statement last week, Appelbaum denied the allegations, saying that “a calculated and targeted attack has been launched to spread vicious and spurious allegations against me.” Appelbaum also said that “the accusations of criminal sexual misconduct against me are entirely false.”