Cryptome

Cryptome is a controversial website, hosted in the United States by its owner John Young, that functions as a repository for information that is prohibited or suppressed by various governments. According to his website, John Young is a former architect from New York City.

It also contains obscure documents relating to freedom of speech, cryptography, surveillance, and so on.

Although many of the files available are of little importance, Cryptome has caused a stir in the past with items such as:

• The MI6 files - a list of MI6 agents published on May 13, 1999.
• The Eyeball series - a series of detailed maps for sensitive government facilities and sites of significant public interest.
• Pictures of dead U.S. soldiers from the 2003 invasion of Iraq that the Pentagon refused to release.

Cryptome has attracted the attention of government agencies. Young reported being visited by two FBI agents from a counter-terrorism office and described having a casual discussion with the agents [1]. Young states on another occasion, two FBI agents spoke with him on the phone. During the conversation, Young recalls, one agent warning of "serious trouble", if a published account of the conversation contained the agents names [2].

In March 2005 the conservative-leaning Reader's Digest published an article 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".[3]

Because Cryptome at times have been unaccessible, the website is being hosted on numerous other webservers.

See also

• Cartome

Mirrors

• Austrian mirror of Cryptome

External links

• Cryptome.org
• Cryptome founders John Young and Deborah Natsios participated in a panel on Standing Up To Authority at H2K2
• John Young's website