Re: Yoon here

Sorry again for the delay.

Jonathan Farley isn't based in Boston; he does teaches somewhere in
the Northeast, though (I forgot where, as he changed schools recently,
but I'll ask).

I've sent an e-mail to the guy in South Africa who produced the
hunting video, so hopefully I'll hear back from him soon; it's
actually possible that the FBI took my copy, as they listed taking a
CD case with a blank CD that I think may have been it. In the
meantime, I do have about a dozen pictures from that hunting trip to
Africa on Facebook as well as a few more from boar hunts in Texas in
my Gmail; go ahead and friend me on Facebook to get access to the
former and I'll forward the latter in a moment. The other FB photos
might also be useful.

Mirna's Gmail address is mirnahariz@gmail.com if you'd like to go
ahead and contact her; she'd be the best for a Skype interview, and
could probably best be convinced to participate in the series as a
whole if it comes from you. I actually don't have her phone number
anymore (lost them all when FBI took my phone), but I'll send her a
message telling her to expect you to get in touch.

The Anonymous book is actually about Gregg Housh, whose deal it was; I
was just brought on to ghostwrite it, and since then I've sold them
the manuscript and moved off the project, which will be re-written by
some other writer. But if you wanted to couple each episode with other
things I've written, such as for The Guardian, that might be viable;
here are my past op-eds for them:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/profile/barrett-brown

Also, to be clear, there's nothing about the project I'm doing with
David House that's a secret or proprietary; I just haven't yet
completed the presentation, which will take a bit more work on my end
before it's ready. I should have it done within a week and a half,
though, so at that point you'll be better able to determine how it
might be incorporated into a season or a few episodes or what have
you.

Jenna would be happy to do a Skype interview at your convenience. I'm
sure my mom could download Skype as well. Her e-mail is
lancaster.karen@gmail.com if you'd like to contact her directly, or I
can give you her cell, too.

Incidentally, that Anon mentioned in the Isikoff interview is not
actually a 16-year-old girl; "Kayla" was just a persona used by an
older male hacker who was among those arrested on the same day I was
raided. But I do have plenty of interesting stories about many of
those people, and a couple of others, such as David Fein (NoPants) and
Commander X, both of whom are "out" under real names and faces, would
be available to do chats and most likely to appear on the show, as
would Jay Liederman, the "Anon lawyer," whom I spoke to about this the
other day (and who also uses Skype - e-mail is
jay@leidermandevine.com).

I'll be available throughout the week if you want to talk via phone or
Skype; let me know.


On Fri, Jul 20, 2012 at 5:08 AM, Christine Yoon <siege.yoon@gmail.com> wrote:

Barrett -

Thanks for the update.  Sorry if I was overstating the obvious in my earlier
email - you might find later that it's a habit of mine. :P  I'm glad to hear
that the Boston warehouse thing seems to be moving forward!  As long as I
know where that stands by the beginning of August, I'll know how to frame it
during the pitch.  And as soon as you have anyone who might be living there
who's definitely in, shoot me their contact info!

Speaking of people who might participate, Jonathan Farley seems like an
awesome addition.  Does he happen to be based in Boston as well?  How long
have ya'll been in contact?

If you can get the hunting video or any other more social, off-the-cuff
footage to me by this weekend, it'll be *really* helpful.  Anything where
your demeanor is something other than "informative."  Otherwise, I'd like to
perhaps start collecting any photos that might be described as "surprising."
I'd also want to jump on Skype with anyone who'd be willing to tell some
colorful Barrett anecdotes this weekend, hopefully Saturday
afternoon/evening.  This weekend's Skype material would be for pitch
purposes only - no one involved would have to participate in the actual
show.  I really want Jenna to be one of those people... anyone else you
could recommend would also be appreciated. Does your mom have Skype
capabilities?

(I'll also want to do one of these with you, but it might wait till the
middle of next week.)

I understand that you may be in the process of writing a book about your
Anonymous stint.  I just had a thought that we could use your writing as a
way of framing each episode - very spur-of-the-moment example here, but
let's imagine that each episode of the show would correspond to a chapter of
the book.  So you might have an HBGary chapter, in which you a) talk to
folks on the street about the incident; b) interview/reminisce with someone
else who participated or was close to the action; c) try to track down Aaron
Barr and get some face time with him.  You'd have a much better idea of how
to break down chapters than I would, but I would think that there might also
be chapters involving "the other McCain," Sabu, OpCartel, some of the more
unusual and unexpected members of Anonymous (you mention a 16 year old girl
in the Isikoff interview), etc.  We'd open and close each episode with you
addressing the audience, and narration written by you would appear
throughout.  I don't know whether this actually corresponds to your writing,
or whether it even has to, but I'm just curious to see what you'd think of
that sort of structure.  (It may be that your upcoming project will take
care of this structure element for us, but for however long we aren't able
to share information about it, I need to have some other structure to
suggest in its place.)

Also, if you have any thoughts for show titles, I'd love to hear them.  The
shorter, the better - "Hacktivist" is my working title for now, but I don't
feel like it covers everything.

Let me know ASAP which folks I can interview this weekend!



On Wed, Jul 18, 2012 at 3:37 PM, Barrett Brown <barriticus@gmail.com> wrote:


Christine-

Absolutely understand about the narrative necessities of the format
from your standpoint, and will of course cater to those as needed.
Regarding specifics:

1. From the standpoint of any show that does come out of this, the
project I mentioned is simply something new I'll be doing in
cooperation with various other figures that will put me "in motion" in
terms of my actual activity, and thus potentially leading to incidents
and conversations and all that which might be helpful to the series.
It will take a while to implement fully, which is to say that it will
be an ongoing matter. Whether or not the production team would find it
interesting for the purposes of the show is of course up to them, and
I'll let you know when we've created the video presentation for it
(presumably before September), at which point you and they can better
make any such decision. It will be very much ongoing; from your end, I
would simply think of it at this point as a possible arc for the first
season - and if it succeeds to the extent we think it might, then
perhaps it might form additional background material for any further
seasons.

2. Understood about potential complications of the warehouse. I do
think it's a go at this early point, and if it is, we can either film
there or not depending on whether the other participants are willing
to sign. I've already mentioned this pitch to a couple of them,
including David, and they seem to be positive on that, so it might
work out. I'll keep you appraised.

3. There are indeed a few other figures here and there who'd I count
as interesting antagonists, including the conservative pundit Robert
Stacy McCain. We have a years-old feud in which I've made a point of
writing about his ties to white nationalist groups as well as an
incident in which he spurred on various threats to a black
mathematician and HuffPo contributor named Jonathan Farley (who also
might be a good onscreen ally), who himself had gotten on the wrong
side of pro-Confederate groups by way of a newspaper column he wrote
and ended up fleeing north out of safety concerns. McCain sort of
renewed the conflict when I started being covered in connection to
Anon, calling for FBI to investigate me since about March of 2011 and,
more recently, openly hinting that I myself am an FBI cooperator who
took down Lulzsec (which he almost certainly doesn't believe). Beyond
that, there a few other individuals connected to Tom Ryan, Barr, etc,
who have also come at me in interesting ways, although they now seem
to be mostly fighting among themselves.

4. No one knows exactly what Sabu is doing now, although it's widely
suspected that he's still under some sort of obligation to the FBI to
continue to operate against various individuals on "our side." He's
something of a ghost now.

5. I'll leave Jenna's inclusion up to your discretion. I have a
historically chaotic romantic life for a number of reasons, but it
looks to me as if she and I will be together for a while, and as of
now, she functions as my confidant. She's never been in the public
eye, but she knows about this and is willing to be on-camera if that
would be helpful. She's just an option in terms of "characters" who
will respond emotionally.

6. My mom knows I'm working on this with you, and could perhaps be
persuaded to, say, have dinner with me on camera. What we can
absolutely count on is e-mails and Gmail chat messages from her on any
occasion on which I do anything at all that she would have prefer I
had handled differently. She's also someone whose reactions, even if
they do emanate from Texas while I'm in Boston, would play into my
on-screen life.

7. I haven't talked to Mirna in a while, but perhaps she'll be
interested in participating since she's running a booking agency in
Austin now and could probably benefit from any publicity. I'll ask
her.

8. There isn't any video of me actually talking in the bathtub with
original audio; someone just made short clip of it that's now on
YouTube, and which Gawker likes to link to. As for hunting, I suppose
something could be arranged.

On Tue, Jul 17, 2012 at 12:58 PM, Christine Yoon <siege.yoon@gmail.com>
wrote:

Yo - started writing to you when you first wrote re: David House.  The
prospect of the activist warehouse is enticing, but it seems a little
ephemeral at this stage.  Until we know that it's a go, and that pretty
much
everyone who would be living there would be OK with being filmed, I
won't
mention it to the pitch committee.  I think we are in good shape without
it,
though - I don't think the lack of warehouse will weaken the show.  (If
it
is a go, I will need to have statements and bios from everyone who wants
to
participate by the beginning of August.)

If the warehouse thing does happen, and if you think the "unprecedented"
project is a go, I'd love to hear more about that.  I imagine there
won't be
all that much for you to share, if you are hoping to maintain some
element
of surprise, but what would matter to me most is the projected timeframe
of
that project.  The odds of our being able to shoot anything before
September
are low, so if it's slated for before then, we'll likely miss it.  And
if
it's a long-term thing, I'd like to have an idea of how long it might
last,
just so I know whether to frame it as a season-long thing or perhaps
just a
one-episode arc.

I was glad to receive the adventure bio.  It's really densely packed - I
am
going to need to read through it a few times before I isolate more
elements
that I want to focus on.  The things that initially jumped out at me:

- Aaron Barr, Jennifer Emick, Thomas Ryan, Ron Moore - It's great, from
my
perspective, that you have these foes, especially in that they are
individual people, rather than abstract corporations.  Are there other
public figures that you feel merit a mention in your antagonist/nemesis
category?  (I know you are focused on security issues now, but I'd also
love
to hear about feuds outside of that realm, say, with the Scientologists
or
any other religious folks.)

- Sabu. Is anyone still in contact with him?

- Jenna - Has Jenna ever been in the public eye?  Have you talked to her
much about the prospect of being on the show?  From what you've told me
about her, I think she would be great, particularly since she
understands
your work... but I am a little wary of positioning her as a full-on cast
member, since a) I'm not sure to what extent she would be willing to be
involved, and b) correct me if I'm wrong, but it seems like your
romantic
relationship is somewhat recent.

- Karen - Frankly, Karen would be an ideal regular element of the show.
Have you mentioned it to her at all?  I understand that if you were to
move
to Boston, she'd be out of filming range, but if you're in Texas at any
point, it would be amazing to have direct face-to-face time between the
two
of you.  Let me know how you feel about this.  I completely understand
if
you'd like to keep your family out of the spotlight.  But knowing
Authentic
as I do, I know that her on-screen involvement would make a huge
difference.
No one will care more about your exploits than she will... and that will
translate powerfully on screen.

(I've mentioned her before, and I don't want to seem repetitive, but I
wonder how you feel about Mirna.  I feel more confident pitching Mirna
than
Jenna, perhaps because I've met her face to face, but also because I
know
that you have a decade, at least, of history together, and she knows
what to
expect around you.  I also think that her law background could provide
an
interesting angle on or counterpoint to the hacktivist perspective.
Just
let me know if you'd be interested/willing to include her.  FYI, I will
probably ask her for a skype interview just for the purpose of the pitch
video, regardless of whether or not she's in the show.  I just need a
few
quick sound bytes of people describing you.)

I've gone through a lot of articles and video this weekend, and I am
really
happy with what I've found so far.  I'm listening to your conversation
with
Aaron Barr now, and I'll be going through the Russia Today videos over
the
next few days.  All of the video I have, though, centers around
political
talk.  I wasn't able to find any bathtub videos that included your
native
audio, for some reason.  If you are able to get that hunting video to
me,
let me know.  I'm just dying for anything that's spontaneous and not
fully
geared towards activism.

By the way, I wasn't thinking of hunting as a regular element of the
show -
just mentioned it as a way of expressing your personality outside of the
internet realm.  Which brings me to my most important point - as you're
drafting your mission statement and thoughts on the show, keep in mind
that
Authentic produces reality TV, not investigative journalism.  The best
way I
can think to differentiate the two right now is to emphasize that
reality TV
is about characters, first and foremost, whereas journalism is more
about
objective facts, demonstrable trends, history, etc.  To win this pitch,
we
have to position this as a show about the people, especially you, who
take
it upon themselves to pursue whatever it is you choose to pursue
(transparency, justice?  You'd know best how to phrase it).  We want to
highlight what choices you'll make in your individual lives to achieve
those
goals, and what the personal consequences to you and your foes are,
whether
you do or don't succeed.  A lot of the details of your work won't
translate
to this format unless we can humanize them - hacking HBGary's emails is
a
remarkable feat, but hacking HBGary's emails thanks to Aaron Barr's
careless
password management and causing Aaron Barr to resign - that's a feat
with a
face attached - something that anyone, regardless of background, can
relate
to.

I know you want to raise awareness for your work.  It seems to me that
you'll have to approach this show as a way of driving Internet traffic
to
your various sites.  It will be difficult to convey a lot of the details
of
your work on screen, and honestly, most of it's probably easier to
understand in written form.  As I see it, what the show should do is
demonstrate that a) you are focused on issues that affect real people;
b)
you, Barrett, do whatever it takes to affect a change; c) if you can,
anyone
can.   Forgive me if any of that sounds trite - in terms of sleep, my 10
AM
is like most people's 5 AM - but I hope you see what I'm getting at
here.  I
want to portray you candidly as a person who's achieved international
awareness through the power of his own determination, and in spite of
the
obstacles of social status and chemical dependency that may have stood
in
his way.

On Mon, Jul 16, 2012 at 1:29 PM, Barrett Brown <barriticus@gmail.com>
wrote:

Finally got the damn internet to work again. Below find the adventure
bio up to my March 6th raid by FBI, followed by brief descriptions of
two characters (mom and gf) who would be coming up most consistently
(gf especially since she lives with me and is involved in Anon); there
are quite a few more people with whom I interact on Skype, Next thing
I'll get you is draft of mission statement regarding how I can expect
to provide content that's both interesting/entertaining and uniquely
informative re: both the "new activism" and the cyber-industrial
issues that motivate me, my group, and other activists I work with.
Will also include ideas on how a few things that do occur on the
text-driven internet can be "brought to life" a bit when warranted. As
a preview, I should note that I enjoy going out drinking, and I also
enjoy giving my little lectures on government and activism to patrons
and bartenders alike. The bartenders at The Quarter, the bar next to
my apartment, would thus be a good venue by which to accomplish any
"man on the street" sort of thing while giving it a twist. Hunting, as
you mention, is also a possibility; will think a bit more on that and
other options by which to facilitate some variation. I'll need to make
certain that David House is indeed set on this "activist warehouse"
idea, in which case there'll be quite a bit more to work with on all
fronts; will plan to talk to him in next day or so to find out where
we are on that.

Also, here's a video clip in which I talk to former HBGary Federal CEO
Aaron Barr shortly after the 2011 hack:
http://www.mediafire.com/?7vb98xu7cobcif2

Barr has been an ongoing foe of mine, and just tweeted something about
me to another fellow, "Hubris," an ex-military hacker who helped run
the group "Backtrace Security" which in turn secretly contracted with
HBGary to identify and locate the individuals responsible for the
hack, as well as to find something to "get [me] picked up on." This
has only been confirmed due to a hack on e-mail accounts belonging to
Backtrace's other founder, Jennifer Emick, by a group called UGNazi
(several members of which were soon afterwards arrested); the e-mails
released also show that Emick, a former Anon, was indeed serving as an
FBI informant at the same time that she and her partners at Backtrace
were working for HBGary. More recently, Hubris and Emick got in some
sort of ridiculous fight that's resulted in Hubris confirming other
details and releasing documents that shed more light on all of this.
Only a few elements are worth noting at any point in the series, but
anyway Barr and another contractor named Thomas Ryan are both
interesting enemy figures that also happen to be involved in a couple
of the methodologies/capabilities that Project PM works to document
and expose.

For more on Tom Ryan see this http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robin_Sage

And for more on Tom Ryan and Aaron Barr's known cooperation against
Occupy Wall Street, see this:

http://threatpost.com/en_us/blogs/aaron-barrs-strange-trip-occupy-wall-street-102111
and this (http://gawker.com/5850054/). Barr himself was fired from the
job he took after resigning from HBGary because he spent too much time
on Anonymous, as noted by his former boss here:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/01/20/aaron-barr-cybersecurity-anonymous-occupy-wall-street_n_1219328.html

Adventure Bio:

1981: Born to Robert Brown and Karen Lancaster in Dallas.

1986 - 1987: Robert, who had made millions in real estate projects, is
investigated and then indicted by FBI for alleged participation in
land-flipping. Hes eventually found not guilty, but legal bills
combined with economic downturn and exuberant spending habits
(including big game hunting across Africa and elsewhere) end with him
losing everything. Parents divorce, Barrett and Karen move into
grandmothers apartment.

1998: Barrett, who had just barely escaped being expelled from school
after being caught sleeping in girls hotel room on school trip,
decides to skip last two years of high school and goes to Dar es
Salaam, Tanzania with father and several ex-military men, and a Dallas
financier who funded the operation, which was intended to establish
several business interests in the country, starting with lumber.
Barrett learned basic Swahili from books and tapes beforehand in
order to serve as translator when needed. Various bizarre conflicts
arise among crew members due to lack of payment and other matters,
eventually leading to everyones passports being held from them by
director of NASACO (National Shipping Company) Ademba Gomba until
intervention by the State Department. Afterwards Barrett is flown back
by worried mother, Robert loses his money once again.

2000: Enters University of Texas to pursue journalism but then drops
out after getting some writing gigs.Still owes UT $2,000 according to
next 12 years of calls from collections agencies.

2001 - 2009: Lives mediocre life of freelance writer in Austin,
Mexico, New York, twice having to work as a furniture mover for
six-month periods due to lack of gigs. Eventually gets small book
deal, minor reputation as a media critic and political commentator.
Appears on a few media outlets regarding random topics. Gets in public
feuds with various ideological enemies. Struggles with addiction to
heroin.

Early 2010: Establishes Project PM, experimental net-based
think-tank intended to develop potential new methods for taking
advantage of internet. Recruits participants via Skeptical Inquirer
column and various blogs. Group creates blogging/activism platform
intended to organize crowd-sourced efforts, establishes small (but
only slightly successful) Science Journalism Improvement Project to
partner scientists with journalists, plans crowd-sourced African
Improvement Project, etc. Contacted by Anonymous organizer/media
outreach figure Gregg Housh after writing HuffPo article predicting
that Anonymous will facilitate effective opposition to states. Moves
back to Dallas. Prescribed Suboxone, methadone alternative.

January 2011: Begins working with Anonymous participants to assist
net-driven portion of Tunisia insurgency, promoting OpTunisia, writing
Anonymous press releases. Turns Project PM into venue for organizing
further assistance to North Africans, loses most of original
participants over concerns about Anonymous legal status. Arranges pro
bono legal aid for Anons raided by FBI pursuant to earlier DDOS attack
on Visa, MasterCard, and Paypal over Wikileaks blockade. Increasingly
quoted by journalists on Anonymous and related issues.

February 2011: After HBGary hack reveals Team Themis scandal, begins
conducting investigations into other issues stemming from 70,000
leaked e-mails. Records and distributes phone conversations with
executives at firms in question.

March 2011: Subject of NBC Nightly News segment on Anonymous after
interview conducted at home in course of withdrawals from Suboxone.
Increasingly referred to incorrectly as either official spokesman or
leader of movement, prompting hostility from some Anons.

April 2011: Gets back on Suboxone. Publicly quits Anonymous after a
much-publicized civil war occurs between channel operators within
Anon server, shift in emphasis away from Arab Spring. Moves ongoing
investigation on cyber-industrial complex to Project PM, which
establishes Echelon2.org wiki to disseminate info on discoveries.

May - July 2011: Further hacks conducted by Anons on firms with ties
to HBGary and Aaron Barr. Several establish Lulzsec group, begin
unprecedented hacking spree against both legitimate and random
targets, driving massive media coverage. Barrett incorrectly tied to
Lulzsecs activities by several intelligence contracting firms and
media reports despite ambiguous relationship with most of its
participants. Several Lulzsec members arrested in U.K. and U.S.,
including hacker Sabu, who is quietly turned into FBI asset.

August - September 2011: Project PM work continues. Barrett agrees to
serve as co-writer to Gregg Housh on book project, which is sold to
Amazon.

October 2011: After an Anon is subjected to routine Mexican Anons
launch #OpCartel, threatening to release dozens of names of
Zeta-affiliated individuals taken from stolen government e-mails
unless, before backing off the operation in face of opposition from
other Anons, and then again deciding to go ahead with it. Barrett
speaks out in support of operation after talking to participants, who
later call it off once again after the individual is released. After
widespread media coverage, Barrett is contacted by various individuals
in both U.S. and Mexico with info on cartels as well as related
matters, including one person with specific details on a North
Carolina DA with alleged ties to drug activity; info is passed on to
area journalists. The DA, Ron Moore, is later embroiled in ongoing
scandal over missing money, weapons from police evidence locker and
refusal to release results of federal audit on the matter.

November 2011: Several security contractors with ties to HBGary post
pictures and addresses of a home they believe Barrett to reside in.
One, later revealed to be an ex-military buddy of an HBGary executive,
manages to obtain actual current address and posts a portion of it
online. Barrett skips town for a month before returning to Dallas.

December 2011: Hackers associated with Sabu, whos been hanging out in
Project PM server, infiltrate Stratfor and eventually manage to take
5.2 million e-mails covering ten years of operations, including
surveillance operations against activist groups in Bhopal under
contract with Union Carbide and indications of a secret indictment
against Assange. After getting permission from Sabu and Jeremy Hammond
Barrett contacts firms execs regarding potential redaction process,
but after ongoing discussions at PM server and elsewhere, the haul is
sent to Wikileaks (as is reported later, Sabu originally asked org for
payment, prompting remaining questions as to whether FBI was making a
play to entrap Assange).

March 2012: Arrests of most remaining Lulzsec hackers and revelations
of Sabus FBI status are revealed in Fox News exclusive a few hours
after Barretts apartment and then mothers home is raided by the FBI.

Jenna: Girlfriend with longtime ties to activist portion of Anonymous,
and working/social relationships with some of the same people with
whom Barrett interacts online. Originally, Jenna was among the many
within Anon who saw Barrett in a somewhat negative light, having once
referred to him as "the poor man's Julian Assange." More recently,
after having become frustrated by Anon's dwindling influence and
internal difficulties, she contacted Barrett via e-mail to discuss the
matter, prompting several weeks of communications that ended with her
flying down from Toronto for what was originally supposed to be a
week. Thereafter she broke up with her live-in fiance, and still lives
with Barrett. Being knowledgable about the environment within which
Barrett works, and having lived with him in his efficiency apartment
for over a month now, Jenna serves in a sort of advisory capacity that
consists in large part of reminding him that he is not God or even
particularly competent. She also has to contend with his Suboxone
addiction, which tends to make him "emotionally unavailable," but
tends to look forward to his drinking, which allows him to be
affectionate.

Karen Lancaster: Intelligent, extraordinarily overprotective mother
who reads everything Barrett - her only child - writes, and everything
written about him, and who holds strong opinions on much of both.
Barrett receives constant phone calls and e-mails from her about
everything from what he should wear on TV appearances to what
terminology he should avoid when talking to the press. Having been a
difficult son to raise, Barrett sometimes feels obligated to accept
his mom's preferred direction, but usually doesn't. Presumably she
would exist in the show only as a disembodied voice emanating from
speaker phone, or as concerned e-mails read aloud by Barrett to Jenna.

On Mon, Jul 16, 2012 at 1:14 PM, Barrett Brown <barriticus@gmail.com>
wrote:

Hey, been having Internet problems over here at josh's place but will
send you character list and adventure bio in about six hours when I
get to
another friend's place. Dojo video seems to be gone, but I might have
the
hunting DVD back in Dallas. Have you found all the Russia today
appearances
on YouTube? Let me know which ones you have so far. There's also one
about
my Romas/coin report that has Lt. Col. Anthony Schaffer, linked to
from
Romas/coin entry on echelon2.org. Will try to recall which others
might be
floating around. Search YouTube for Barrett brown bath, or google.

Also, I might be moving into a shared warehouse space in boston with
David house and other activists in September, which would obviously
make
this all more viable.

Sent from my iPhone




--
Regards,

Barrett Brown
512-560-2302




-- 
Regards,

Barrett Brown
512-560-2302