Subject: Chat with Patrick Frey
From: Patrick Frey <patterico@gmail.com>
To: barriticus@gmail.com

Patrick: Reading Parmy's book now. Just getting to the part about you.
me: It's okay, there are a few mistakes on various things that I'm aware of, others I've heard about from a few other people who were active in various other things I wasn't
me: For instance, I apparently live in Houston
Patrick: Heh
Patrick: I know that's wrong
me: ironically, she got lots of basic info on me from Dallas' city mag, that did a big profile on me last year, so odd mistake to make, but then she's English so all Texas cities must be interchangable
me: but anyway, trying to accurately cover Anon is extraordinarily difficult and she did a fairly good job under the circumstances, spent a lot of time talking to people, etc
Patrick: It seems like a good book so far
me: Keep in mind that it focuses disproportionately on Lulzsec, which was really an unfortunate thing
Patrick: Have you been following all the insanity lately surrounding Neal etc.
me: as she had great deal of access to Topiary, the young man who was kind of its "spokesman"
me: Not as much lately, I caught a lot of it via Memeorandum starting with the initial court proceeding
Patrick: Just listened to his "debate" with the yutz from Westboro Baptist
Patrick: Lulz, as you folks say
me: which was, as you guys have noted, very ridiculous
Patrick: I put on the YouTube as I read about it in the book
Patrick: Topiary seems like a good guy from the book so far plus the YouTube
me: that a judge would start citing whatever bizarre cultural conventions he remembers from his Bronx youth or whatever when deciding something like this is pretty unprofessional, or whatever term is used
Patrick: But what do I know
Patrick: Vaughey? Yeah, that shit was crazy
me: looking at your blog now, I see Holder's not responding to anything at all these days
Patrick: True dat
Patrick: What were the jokes about your penis on the show I'm reading about?
Patrick: Radio Payback
me: show?
Patrick: WhiteKidney
me: Oh, I don't remember, there's just a lot of generic ribbing that goes on, centralized among certain individuals/venues
Patrick: So it's small then. Got it.
Patrick: :)
Patrick: Just call that generic ribbing
Patrick: About your small penis
Patrick: We can move on from the topic of your small penis if you like...
me: That was probably the gist, keep in mind one gets subjected to literally constant inane convo in some of the "working venues," which is one reason a lot of good people left
Patrick: Gotcha
Patrick: Moving on
me: it's not a problem unless it overtakes everything, and it can do that depending on what the ratio is of people who want to spend their time working vs. people who are bored and want to fuck around on internet
Patrick: Indeed
me: there are several unusual factors that have a huge impact on how things go, that are rather different than the factors that effect actual institutions
Patrick: Are you trying to divert the discussion from the smallness of your penis?
me: probably you've gotten a clearer sense of how Anon became "activist" partly by chance, and against the will of a lot of the "original" folks
me: Always
Patrick: That's fine. I would
Patrick: Reading the book I am getting a sense
Patrick: Again I am only 40% in, about
Patrick: It seems you were pushing the activism
Patrick: From what I have seen so far
Patrick: Which I recall from the time
Patrick: I know you were pushing Tunisia etc.
me: I was ~(___(._.)-E
Patrick: WTF?
Patrick: (Why The Face?)
me: In explanation, that was my friend's girlfriend who just came back here from concert, asked me who I was talking to, and then asked to make a "cat face" to that person
me: So that was apparently a cat face
Patrick: Well there you have it
me: I'm in Brooklyn for the week so staying with a couple of my friends
Patrick: Ron Brynaert?
me: to do this Bloomberg/Businessweek taping last night
me: heh
Patrick: Ha!
me: I've never been able to figure out exactly what he thinks I did to him
Patrick: He is friends with everybody!
me: And what his deal is, exactly
Patrick: Why not you?
Patrick: He is just a Dale Carnegie adherent, as far as I can tell.
Patrick: Making friends and influencing people everywhere he goes
me: Well, I think he thinks I "hacked" him or something, but I'm not sure; he's written at least one blog post about me
me: And thinks I have CIA ties
Patrick: Who doesn't?
Patrick: He's CERTAINLY not insane. That much I know!
Patrick: Not completely, verifiably INSANE
Patrick: At ALL!
me: Well, he himself has explained as much!
Patrick: Indeed
Patrick: So there you have it
me: So is this whole thing more or less over, or what?
Patrick: I guess
me: Or is it going to be something that never really resolves, and various lesser-known bloggers maintain hostilities on both sides (not including Brynart's pseudo-side)? Or what?
Patrick: Why wouldn't it be?
Patrick: Well
Patrick: I don't see what drives it going forward
Patrick: Neal and Brett seem to have shut up
Patrick: Mostly OccupyRebellion threatens to keep it going I guess
Patrick: And she is pretty toothless
Patrick: So I guess it's done
Patrick: Unless they keep it going
Patrick: I am tired of it all
Patrick: I guess they will investigate the recent SWATtings
Patrick: But probably get nowhere
Patrick: So there it will lie
me: Well, bright side is, will perhaps bring attention to the methodologies that are now increasingly available to the unethical/disturbed
Patrick: Wasn't Neal's bullshit fairly obvious as of October 2010??
me: swatting is probably still fairly rare, there's other stuff more along the lines of disinfo that I've seen/had deployed against me which seems to have sort of developed and spread within certain facets of both internet culture and, to lesser extent, certain "professions" with lax ethical guidelines, and even a lot of media people don't know about them yet
Patrick: Fairly rare but 4 instances in the past year
Patrick: Notable because firearms get involved
Patrick: I am a victim of disinfo as well, but the whole gun pointed at my head thing bothers me more
me: Pat, you've got to keep in mind that I didn't pay a lot of attention to Neal, and didn't follow this thing as closely as those involved in it
Patrick: Go figure
me: Yeah, you're right to be bothered by it. I'm saying "still relatively rare" because I think it will happen more.
Patrick: Of course it will happen more
Patrick: Only 4 so far
Patrick: Hey, you never sent your proof that Stacy McCain slandered you
Patrick: I was hoping to hold you to your honorable claim that you would take on Leiderman
Patrick: Due to his total fucking bullshit in going after me
me: Did you read his blog posts about me probably being an FBI agent?
me: That might be a good place to start.
Patrick: Nope, you were going to send me links, I thought
me: I guess I can't prove I'm not.
Patrick: Nope
Patrick: Who would have thought Sabu was
Patrick: Weird part is I would respect you more if you were
Patrick: But look at me, I'm the DA
Patrick: So there you have it
Patrick: I like snitches
Patrick: You hate them
Patrick: I like law enforcement
Patrick: You don't
Patrick: I don't see it as slander to call someone an FBI snitch
me: Okay
Patrick: I see Darby as doing God's work
Patrick: I know you must disagree
Patrick: But as always
Patrick: I tell you the truth
Patrick: No bullshit
Patrick: What an idiot I am, huh? Always saying what I actually think
Patrick: Derp, as you guys say
Patrick: Derp derp derp
me: Yeah, I don't say those things.
Patrick: Of course
Patrick: You hate snitches
Patrick: Oh
Patrick: You mean hackerspeal
Patrick: k
Patrick: OK
Patrick: Maybe not
Patrick: Anyway off to bed
me: Can you please keep in mind that I've done absolutely nothing to you?
Patrick: Of course!
Patrick: I would not be talking to you otherwise
me: I'm sorry that you and others are in this thing with Neal, and I don't like him, and I've told you that I think you're absolutely right about him.
Patrick: You have indeed
Patrick: I feel like a sucker sometimes for taking people at their word, but I take you at your word
me: And I'm sorry that you've been dealt with unfairly by him, by whoever else is with that group of people, and by whoever else, etc.
me: You getting the cops called on you in that thing was horrible, and I take it very seriously.
Patrick: Well, thank you for saying that
me: The last time we spoke, I got the impression that you think I'm trying to pump you for info or something. I have never spoken to Neal about you or much at all in the last year or so, have never been involved in any of his projects, and only spoke to him off and on in my IRC, and only paid attention/took seriously his input on literally two occasions, one of which involved a project described in HBGary e-mails called Romas/COIN, that he didn't properly investigate and got wrong but which was helpful for me because I hadn't noticed it referenced previously and I was able to dig up more on my own, establish the known facts, and release a report on it
me: Like, we were never friends. He was one of literally dozens of people with whom I communicated in the process of finding people who were interested in setting up new sorts of activist networks, which is what Project PM was working on originally back in 2010, before Tunisia began and I switched over everything to helping with that and other things
me: So, I've sent you the two e-mails that he sent me and these other contacts of him that mention you.
me: If I had any more details at all that would help you assess the nonsense he's been saying about you and anything else, I'd give them to you.
me: Regarding these sarcastic remarks you keep making about "honor" and "Leiderman," again, I'm sorry that he's engaged in this stuff against you. I took the time to look at your post, see your position on this, and I think you're right, that it's without merit.
me: But I am absolutely not getting involved in this, by "denouncing" Leiderman or anyone else.
me: I'm already involved in a tremendous number of conflicts that have involved false information going to the FBI about me, at the worst, as well as threats made regarding my family members, mostly by some jackass security contractor types who consider me to be "fair game." There are people who use my name on IRCs to try to damage my reputation, and there's nothing I can do about it. I'm under surveillance not just by the FBI, but by private entities that get away with shit not limited to posting my actual address and pictures of where I live and tagging it with "Zetas."
me: So, again, I have a lot on my plate already, and I know you do, too, but nothing I can do would help you, as Liederman doesn't owe me a single favor in the world. It would simply complicate my own life further.
me: I'm telling you this because I feel like I have an obligation to explain honestly why I'm not going to be getting involved with any of these things.
me: As for me "hating snitches," I can tell you that I am indeed very angry at Sabu, whose snitch career I'm very familiar with, and who actually encouraged a lot of people, including kids, to come to him with exploits against companies, and that sort of thing
me: A lot of people have come into this whole thing for the wrong reasons, like adolescent stupidity, or a need for the approval of the "big hackers," and whatever else
me: And Sabu, under FBI's direction, was taking all of this in a very nihilstic direction at a time when people like me were really trying to make something good out of what was there
me: And I don't look at you as any sort of enemy just because you're a DA. I really try hard not to think like that, and to acknowledge that these things are complex, and not everyone on the "other side" is the bad guy, or someone to be depersonalized, etc.
me: So, anyway, I have not and will not ask you to publicly attack McCain or anyone else on my account, for several reasons, including that it wouldn't help me, would complicate things for you.
me: But please don't complain to me about Leiderman and then pretend that McCain trying to imply that I'm an FBI snitch is not dishonest, and not being intentionally done as retaliation against me for the several articles I wrote laying out the details of his involvement with white nationalist entities, etc