Where Have You Gone, Joe Cryptome?

It seems Cryptome has been shut down.

It’s feeling more and more like China around here.

In an age when political operatives who call themselves journalists serve as cheerleaders for government lies, Cryptome has consistently been the go-to place for truth—the truth to be found in buried government documents and suppressed photographs that would never have been seen elsewhere, had it not been for the dazzling research of the site's host, John Young.

In an era when nobody even in the so-called free press ever seems to object to the routine suppression of dissent (at least not publicly)—all in the name of national security, of course—Young is a true First Amendment hero. Here’s hoping that he finds another place for his site somewhere in cyberspace soon. He’s an inspiration to all, particularly journalists, to go deeper than official lies and unearth the truth.

In observance of Cryptome's hopefully temporary demise, anyone with the time should spend some time today poking around on the web sites of U.S. government agencies to see what revealing information he or she can find. Try the Department of Defense, Homeland Security, Pentagon, Army, Navy, Marines, National Security, FBI, CIA, and of course the White House; take your pick, and there's lots more... Get to know this lovely military industrial complex for yourself.

from Wikipedia:
Cryptome is a controversial website, hosted in the United States by John Young, that functions as a repository for information about freedom of speech, cryptography, 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.[1]"

Controversial Cryptome documents include suppressed photographs of U.S. soldiers killed in Iraq, lists of people believed to be MI6 agents [2], and detailed maps of government facilities[3] (based on publicly available mapping and aerial photography).

Young claims that Cryptome has attracted the attention of government agencies. He reports being visited by two FBI agents from a counter-terrorism office and describes having a casual discussion with the agents[4]. 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[5].

In March 2005 the 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".[6]]

On 20 April 2007 the website received notice that the site would be shut down by its hosting company Verio on 4 May for breaches of their acceptable use policy. The nature of these breaches were not specified by Verio. The notice period of two weeks is to allow cryptome to engage alternative hosting.[7]

Several other websites are closely linked to Cryptome. Cartome, administered by Deborah Natsios (John Young's partner), is an archive of spatial and geographic documents related to the same topics covered by Cryptome. Another website, Cryptome CN, specialises in the publication of documents and information banned in the People's Republic of China.

Cryptome founders John Young and Deborah Natsios participated in the Standing Up To Authority panel at H2K2.