Cryptome.org ( http://www.cryptome.org ) says it wants to be "the most disreputable site on the web," and it pursues this goal by publishing declassified government memos and information about Government officials, including the names of FBI agents and pictures of officials' houses - the so-called "Eyeballing" series of photos. Here we have turned the tables on Cryptome operator John Young, "Eyeballing" his own abode.

Cryptome also publishes encryption software such as PGP for computer fans, today's equivalent of the Magic Encoder/Decoder Spy Rings that used to come in cereal boxes.


#file_1#


Shown is an aerial photo of the Admaston Apartments building, at 251 W. 89th St. (the northwest corner of 89th St. and Broadway in New York City), where Cryptome operates out of Apt. 6E. The floor layout, superimposed in red lines, shows the floorplan location of 6E. The apartment overlooks a recess, or alcove, in the building on Broadway. There are two windows above the Broadway sidewalk, four facing north in the alcove, and four facing east in the alcove. Young's flat has seven rooms.

The building has about 150 feet of frontage on 89th Street and about 100 feet on Broadway, extending halfway to 90th St.

Most of the 72 condominium apartments are occupied by the owners, like lawyer Greta Fertick on the seventh floor, but Young's is basically a rental apartment, rented from a Mr. Brettler.

The indentations, or alcoves, in the building lead to a lobby with a doorman/guard and an elevator (you can see the elevator shaft and some ventilation ducts on the roof). There is a rooftop garden as you can see to the left of center.

Broadway is divided, a boulevard, at this point, and you can see trees at the lower right of the photo as well as in front of the building.


#file_2#


The 12-story building of brown stone facing is seen in the ground-level photo taken from the opposite (southeast) corner of 89th and Broadway.

FBI VISITS CRYPTOME

Lately, Cryptome has shown a fascination with the FBI. This follows an alleged November 2003 visit from two counterterrrorism agents stationed in New York. In fact, Cryptome reports on the FBI almost daily now. Could it be that Cryptome is a wannabe agent?


A VISIT TO CRYPTOME (JOHN YOUNG)


#file_3#


Arriving at 251 89th St., you see an awning and arch leading to the alcove and the building entrance.

A full-time doorman serves as the keeper of the gate. Once you are admitted to the elevator, you proceed to the sixth floor, turn to the south, walk a short distance, and round a zigazg corner to the left, near the end of the hall. Once you are admitted into the foyer, you turn left across the hardwood floors (oak?) toward the living room. As you walk, you see the dining room on the right.

The place is light, owing partly to the windows on the north and east and partly to the mostly white walls and ceilings

The kitchen, and possibly the working area of Cryptome and Young's architectural practice, are beyond the living room as you walk towards it, behind a door in the corner of the living room. This area is in the alcove, facing Broadway. The office could also be in one of the bedrooms toward the Broadway frontage. There is room for three bedrooms.

Once in the living room, you will be offered a choice of overstuffed furniture, placed somewhat awkwardly for conversation in the large room (about 14 by 20 ft). You will notice a woodburning fireplace and 10- or 11-foot ceilings with exposed beams. The place is in an older apartment building, 90-some years old, but better maintained than most.

The condos in this Upper West Side building go for one to two million dollars, depending on the size. On the other side of Central Park, the Upper East Side, they would cost three or four times as much.

Since Young isn't likely to offer you anything, you might want to pick up some food and drink beforehand, at the Whole Foods Market, an organic grocery, deli, and cafe on the ground floor of Young's building, on the Broadway side, at 2421 Broadway. Ray's Pizza, down Broadway at 2413, offers decent pizza.

CRYPTOME: A PARAZITE WANNABE

Actually, Cryptome is a wannabe, a poor substitute for sites like http://parazite.host.sk/ and http://www.voxfux.com, which publish truly revolutionary documents such as the "Reclaim Guide," which sent Southern California webmaster Sherman Austin to federal prison, and commentary that has Harry "Vox" Stuckey on the run from the feds for real. (However, some of the things Parazite, etc., publish are more revolting than revolutionary.) Cryptome stands a better chance in the Most Boring category.

A better source for daily news is http://www.whatreallyhappened.com. For commentary as well as news, http://www.Indymedia.org is better than Cryptome.

Anyway, as Cryptome says, "Those who most want to spy on others fear most their own secrets will be bared."

Open note to John Young: How do you feel about your own secrets being bared?

YOUNG AND NATSIOS

John Lee Young, age 68, operates an architectural service with his wife, Deborah Natsios, out of their home at 251 West 89th Street in New York City. He operates Cryptome and she operates a similar site at http://www.cartome.org -- sort of his and hers "spy" sites. Cartome (translation: map books) is less focused on "secrets" and more wide ranging than Cryptome (translation: hidden books).

The business operated by Young and Natsios, apparently in their spare time away from the spy sites, include: John Young Architects (call 212-787-6102 if you need his help), Natsios & Associates (call 212-431-6331 if you need her help), and Urban Deadline Architects (212-873-8700).


There is a 2001 photo of John Young in nearby Central Park at http://www.mccullagh.org/image/12/john-young-cryptome.html , and you can purchase a copy if you wish. Young once recommended the park -- his neighborhood -- as the best place for terrorists to place a nuclear weapon in New York!

"For maximum effect on people -- for blast and for toxic
plumes -- the weapon should be located in Central Park, or
best, several of them placed at its east, south and west
periphery. The park is in the heartland of Manhattan
-- cultural, political and economic -- and thousands of the
nation's vainglorious personages live adjacent to it.
(Why the Atta bunch wasted their efforts on laborers
in WTC rather than creme-de-la-creme Park and 5th
is a mysterious conspiracy.) "
http://archives.abditum.com/cypherpunks/C-punks20020304/0049.html

(Harry "Vox" Stuckey wrote an article that claimed that it was the U.S. Government that might detonate a dirty bomb in NYC and another blaming the Government for 9/11. These articles could be the cause of the Government chasing him underground. Cryptome is still above ground.)

SOME HISTORY

John Young has been an architect since about 1970. He claims to have taught at Columbia University in New York. At the 1968 Columbia University student strike, he supposedly met students who later became his partners in the "public interest" architectural firm Urban Deadline.

In 1989 Young made news by appearing for an interview on NYC's Channel 13 wearing a welder's mask! He didn't say a thing in the interview and asked not to be named or interviewed, leaving the talking up to his colleagues.

The Internet provided an new outlet for Young's libertarianism when he began posting to the Cypherpunks mailing list in 1995. This is a forum for privacy concerns, with an emphasis on encryption, computer security, and imagined Government intrusions on citizens. Young's Cryptome can be considered a splinter off of Cypherpunks. He started Cryptome in 1996.

Much of the material on Cryptome is unclassified, and you can find it yourself on the web. In fact, it is easier to use Google or another search engine than the Cryptome site or the $25 CD of its contents that Young sells, both of which are not indexed. In other words, there may be some interesting material there, but it is hard to access. Much of the information is outdated, heavily redacted, or otherwise impaired.

Cryptome offers this fillip to hawk the CDs: "Information on the CDs could be used to harm the United States." This line supposedly comes from an FBI agent who visited Young. Actually, no one in their right mind would expect the U.S. Government to allow this for any length of time. When a country does not suppress activities that would seriously harm its citizens, the country does not have a government.

Of the 16,000 documents Young has published on the web, only 2 have gotten any action from the FBI, his current focus. The FBI merely called him about these documents.

Cryptome says that documents have been removed only by court order. It admits that no such court order has ever been received. The reason is that there is nothing new or threatening there.

ACTIVIST WORKS FOR ROCKEFELLER! (NUKE YOUR CUSTOMER)

One of his past works that Young trumpets is a design for none other than Laurence Rockefeller. Admittedly, it was just a supporting role (Young designed an elevator for Rockefeller's home), but the Rockefeller family is the archetype of the U.S. Establishment and the nemesis of every radical in the U.S. http://jya.com/jya/rockel.pdf

In all fairness, Young has to make a living. There's only so much you can do with dumpsters compressed onto CDs. And he did get his digs in on Rockefeller's ilk in the above quote about nuking "the nation's most vainglorious personages...."

CRYPTOME AND THE FBI

Young has been involved in three controversies with the FBI. Either the society is very permissive or Cryptome is innocuous -- it has published 16,000 documents over the past 8 years and been challenged by law enforcement only 2 times.

The most recent visit was in November 2003 when two agents allegedly pulled a "just a routine checkup" visit. This is remeniscent of a Hal March scene in the Ma and Pa Kettle movie "Ma and Pa Kettle Go to Town" (New York City). Young has never let them hear the end of it. He has published the names of the agents and information on about everyone with the same name and near the same age in the whole New York area! He has made numerous requests under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) for information about the visit. The FBI apparently has no record of the alleged visit and Young has no proof.

politech@politechbot.com/msg02328.html" rel="nofollow">http://www.mail-archive.com/politech@politechbot.com/msg02328.html

This was taken from the opposite (SW) corner.

A full-time doorman is the gatekeeper.

This one-upsmanship is fun, but only in a juvenille way.

Even speaking truth to power is an exercise in worshipping power.

Keeping an eye on power is important, but more important is organizing the powerless to threaten the powerful with widespread self-governance. You can't rely on "spectacular" incident or actions to do this. It is a lot of hard work, that involves a lot of personal growth, and is the only path to legitimate democratic revolution.

Search for Zapatism on the web.

This really should be hidden.

1. It's a pretty heavily libelous invasion of privacy. The person who runs Cryptome isn't a particularly public figure, and this is a pretty extreme invasion of privacy. (it actually goes far beyond what the person who runs Cryptome does when doing "eye on" pieces of high-profile public figures and government organizations.

2. Worse yet, the harassment just seems to be to promote a "competing" website.

John, who wants to run the LA Indymedia too, has already hidden this post on his own site, DC Indymedia. If you look at his comments on his own site, he has toned them down in writing the above comments.

And Washington, DC, is the seat of our democracy.

Can we confirm that "John" is at dc.indymedia? If so, do we have his last name? After all, he is outing someone else here. More importantly, I have reason to believe that dc.indymedia is connected to another "IndyMedia" site (a fake one at that).

Any info on John should be posted here. The intelligence boon for those investigating rightwing infiltration into IndyMedia would be large.

Nefarious, please just do it. What other site does he run besides DC (and trying to run LA)?

How to confirm John is a DC Indy operator:

Here is what he posted on DC when he hid the Cryptome story.

TURNING THE TABLES ON CRYPTOME.ORG: SPY PHOTO OF THEIR HQ
by Tom Reed 20 Feb 2004
Hidden by john with code: Policy Violation
Notes: Notes: libelous privacy invasion. note: this goes beyond what Cryptome publishes, and the publisher of that site is not a public official that warrants/allows for this sort of privacy invasion. also appears to be a smear campaign for the purpose of promoting a competing web site.

Compare to below, which he just posted here on LA:

ought to hide this
by john Thursday February 19, 2004 11:32 PM

This really should be hidden.

1. It's a pretty heavily libelous invasion of privacy. The person who runs Cryptome isn't a particularly public figure, and this is a pretty extreme invasion of privacy. (it actually goes far beyond what the person who runs Cryptome does when doing "eye on" pieces of high-profile public figures and government organizations.

2. Worse yet, the harassment just seems to be to promote a "competing" website.

I believe that there is a connection between the DC Registry and DC IndyMedia.

http://www.dcregistry.com
http://dc.indymedia.org

The DC Registry is a rightwing journal. Someone in DC has exhibited a pattern of acting on the behalf of someone at the DC Registry. I know who the person at the DC Registry is but I don't know who the person at DC IndyMedia is (not in the sense that would hold up in court).

Boston IndyMedia is highly infiltrated. Boston IndyMedia and "Beach Cities" IMC have connections.

Boston IndyMedia, the DC Registry and "Beach Cities" IMC all share connections to a defense contractor working for the Information Awareness Office.

That's all I'll say for now.

I think your comments are more important than the parent post here.

What about the NYC Indymedia and infiltration.

I note that they deleted the Cryptome article, even more extreme than DC hiding it.

The Cryptome article could be a good test case, to see which IMCs delete it or hide it.

Infiltration is going to be an ongoing problem, and we need to start working on it.

So far, I have read here that DC and Boston are infiltrated. Any others?