John Young of Cryptome: The man behind the world's most dangerous website

September 3, 2007 8:51 AM

When journalists from Radar Magazine interview John Young of Cryptome.org, Young suspects he is actually being double-crossed by MI6 agents.
posted by deern the headlice (22 comments total)

If I was doing what that man was, I would be paranoid too, which is why it's my life's policy not to piss off Mossad, the CIA, whatever they call the KGB these days, and MI6, in roughly that order.
posted by TheOnlyCoolTim at 9:25 AM on September 3, 2007 [1 favorite]

I've got inside information that it's a trick to make himself look more paranoid than he is.
posted by Anything at 9:37 AM on September 3, 2007

This article finally proves what I've long suspected. Nigel Tufnel used Spinal Tap as a front to travel the world on spying missions for his brother.
posted by Sk4n at 9:46 AM on September 3, 2007

Previously.
posted by Blazecock Pileon at 9:56 AM on September 3, 2007

Rupert Murdoch New York Penthouse Eyeball

The penthouse to the left of Murdoch is that of the "Polish Princess," a maid who inherited billions from a Johnson of Johnson and Johnson.

I want to hear more about this Polish Princess. Couldn't care less about Murdoch/Deng fancy-shmancy house.
posted by potsmokinghippieoverlord at 10:53 AM on September 3, 2007

I always assumed the guy running that site was younger.
posted by delmoi at 10:54 AM on September 3, 2007

A polish princess link, I think.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barbara_Piasecka_Johnson


posted by zerobyproxy at 11:05 AM on September 3, 2007

My inability to link, or to find the correct way to link, is painfully evident.
posted by zerobyproxy at 11:09 AM on September 3, 2007

Hey zerobyproxy, check the FAQ.
posted by sciurus at 11:45 AM on September 3, 2007

thanks, zerobyproxy! "As of 2006, Barbara Piasecka Johnson is the richest American who does not live in America." (I wonder who lives in that NYC mansion, then?)

I learn something every day!
posted by potsmokinghippieoverlord at 11:49 AM on September 3, 2007

It surprises me that a link leading to a lightweight such as radaronline has been on the FP of MeFi more than once in the past 30 days.

My spidey sense is tingling.
posted by humannaire at 1:38 PM on September 3, 2007

It surprises me that a link leading to a lightweight such as radaronline has been on the FP of MeFi more than once in the past 30 days.

I bought a copy of Radar at the airport yesterday before my flight home from vacation. Prior to the Cryptome article, I wasn't all that familiar with the mag. After reading it, I thought MeFites would be interested -- sure enough, Radar online offered it, so I linked it. Man, are all posts subject to conspiracy theory?
posted by deern the headlice at 2:25 PM on September 3, 2007

prev links to radar were spam, iirc, and someone was bannificated. your spidey sense was correct, but not (necessarily) for this post.
posted by andrew cooke at 2:32 PM on September 3, 2007

here is the meta
posted by andrew cooke at 2:37 PM on September 3, 2007

Oy, just searched MeTa -- I guess some things happened while I was vacationing. I might've reconsidered posting if I'd known Radar had been self-linking prior.
posted by deern the headlice at 2:38 PM on September 3, 2007

John Young is a bit angry, and a bit paranoid, but Cryptome is a great service (and it wouldn't fly in any other country, that's for sure). I bought a set of his archive DVDs a year or so ago, and I need to order a current set...
posted by mrbill at 3:03 PM on September 3, 2007

[redacted]
posted by BitterOldPunk at 3:16 PM on September 3, 2007

Can someone explain this to me? So somehow this guy magically knows which IP addresses the NSA is using to spy on people? Huh?
posted by Avenger at 4:18 PM on September 3, 2007

if it was explainable from earlier info, why would it need to be on cryptome? isn't that pretty much the definition of information? that you can't derive it otherwise?

he posts information that he receives. or he makes it up. the information is reliable. or it isn't. read the interview - that's pretty much the only point it makes.
posted by andrew cooke at 4:37 PM on September 3, 2007

Can someone explain this to me? So somehow this guy magically knows which IP addresses the NSA is using to spy on people? Huh?

Well it's a pretty wide-reaching list.

He includes Akamai, AltaVista, AT&T Worldnet, BellSouth, Boeing, British Telecom, Comcast, Covad, Ebay, Google, McAfee, MCI, Microsoft, MySpace, Optus, Qwest, Road Runner, Rogers, Telecom Xtra (NZ's largest ISP) and Yahoo.

It would be interesting to parse all the ranges he lists there and see exactly what percentage of the publicly addressable internet is the NSA.

MetaFilter is in NSA controlled address space (74.52.0.0 - 74.54.255.255).

MetaFilter is an NSA front!
posted by sycophant at 9:07 PM on September 3, 2007

one of the first posts on the thread shows that all addresses were included in the list (i didn't understand the response).
posted by andrew cooke at 5:31 AM on September 4, 2007

and it wouldn't fly in any other country, that's for sure

What? I'm guessing it'd fly in a whole host of countries. In fact, I'm always surprised to find it hasn't been shut down in the US yet. The US isn't a bastion of free speech.
posted by chunking express at 6:41 AM on September 5, 2007