| URL | cryptome.org |
|---|---|
| Created by | John Young, Deborah Natsios |
| Launched | June 1996 |
| Current status | Active |
Cryptome is a website hosted in the United States since 1996 by independent scholars[1] and architects John Young and Deborah Natsios[2] that functions as a repository for information about freedom of speech, cryptography, spying, and surveillance. According to the site:
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.[3]
Cryptome hosted documents, consisting of over 70,000 files,[4] include suppressed photographs of U.S. soldiers killed in Iraq, lists of people believed to be MI6 agents,[5][6] detailed maps of government facilities[7] (based on publicly available mapping and aerial photography), and 4,000 photos of the Iraq War killed and maimed.[8]
Cryptome provides sub-directories: Cartome, administered by Deborah Natsios, is an archive of spatial and geographic documents related to the same topics covered by Cryptome. Eyeball Series provides photographic documentation of sensitive sites which are customarily concealed from public view. Cryptome CN, specialises in the publication of documents and information banned in the People's Republic of China,Nuclear Power Plants and WMD, publishes documents and information on nuclear technology, Cryptome Protest Series, publishes photos essays on worldwide protests.
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On 20 April 2007 the website received notice that the site would be evicted from its hosting company Verio's servers on May 4 for unspecified breaches of their acceptable use policy. The notice period of two weeks allowed Cryptome to engage alternative hosting.[9][10]
In February 2010, Cryptome was briefly shut down by Network Solutions for alleged DMCA violations after it posted a "Microsoft legal spy manual".[11][12][13] Microsoft withdrew the complaint 3 days later and the website was restored.[14] In March 2010, PayPal stopped processing donations to Cryptome and froze the account's funds.[15]
Young claims that Cryptome has attracted the attention of government agencies.[16] He reports being visited by two FBI agents from a counter-terrorism office and describes having a casual discussion with the agents.[17] He further describes how on another occasion two FBI agents spoke with him on the phone. During this conversation, he claims, one agent warned of "serious trouble" if a published account of the conversation contained the agents' names.[18]
In March 2005 the Reader's Digest published an article, based on an interview with Young, with a highly critical view of Cryptome in its regular feature "That's Outrageous". It asserted that Cryptome is an "invitation to terrorists" and claimed that Young "may well have put lives at risk".[19] Young says he welcomed the critique from an opposing political ideologue as a contribution to a public debate on the need to broaden freedom of information beyond narrow "reputable" media outlets.[20]