2021-04-13 23:13:28 +00:00
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# Codeberg's Attack on Transparency and on Cloudflare Opposition
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Codeberg hosted the Crimeflare's `Cloudflare-Tor` (CFT) project.
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In 2021, Codeberg took down the project alleging libel.
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## What the Cloudflare-Tor (CFT) project is
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The CFT project is a non-profit charitable effort to
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promote decentralization, network neutrality, and privacy with
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[Cloudflare](../README.md) (a top adversary of that cause) as the core focus.
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CFT project provides a variety of free software tools to help protect the
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general public from Cloudflare.
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An important component of protecting the community from Cloudflare is
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documenting websites that subject people to the harms of Cloudflare by
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maintaining a [massive list](../cloudflare_users/domains) of websites to avoid.
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Unlike other tech giant adversaries to the CFT cause such as [GAFAM](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GAFAM)
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(Google, Amazon, Facebook, Apple and Microsoft), Cloudflare operates
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surreptitiously and largely unknown to the general public, despite
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having access to ~20-30%+ of the world's web traffic and 80%+ of CDN
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market.
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Their existence is so much in the shadows that privacy organizations
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like "[Electronic Frontier Foundation](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electronic_Frontier_Foundation)" are largely oblivious to the threat of it.
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Mainstream privacy orgs not only *neglect* to protect web users from Cloudflare,
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but some of them actually naively *use* Cloudflare themselves and
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unwittingly work *against* their own interest and declared purpose.
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Some privacy and ethical advice sites like "Switching Software"
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actually *recommend* Cloudflare sites to those who entrust them to
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give advice pursuant to their own stated purpose.
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The problem is so [rampant](../PEOPLE.md) that it became important for the CFT
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project's tracking of the Cloudflare problem to start keeping track of
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organizations and the pseudo-anonymous aliases of representatives who
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were spotted publicly promoting Cloudflare.
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## Codeberg-inflicted censorship
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After someone
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[on Codeberg's staff](https://codeberg.org/shadow/SpywareWatchdog/issues/77#issuecomment-188105)
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was added to the Cloudflare supporter list, Codeberg shut down the CFT
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project and issued
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[this statement](https://codeberg.org/Codeberg/Community/issues/423#issuecomment-187783)
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to contributors, and posted
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[this blog announcement](https://blog.codeberg.org/on-the-cloudflare-tor-takedown.html),
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allegedly in response to complaints.
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### Analysis of Codeberg's e-mail
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> "target lists", with personal data, lists of employment status,
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> social media identities,
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Calling it a "`target list`" entails a presumption of *how* the list is
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used. For example, if a threat actor wants to join the CFT project to
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gain access to our internal operations, it is not CFT targeting them
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but rather CFT avoiding being targeted by their adversary. CFT has
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been attacked several times and sometimes at the hands of insiders who
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gained trust by posing as those who support the CFT cause.
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Transparency is essential in exposing the corporate bias behind the
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information and advice you are getting. For example, a forum for talk
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about bicycles might require [Brompton company](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brompton_Bicycle) representatives to be tagged as
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such so that other users are aware of the bias behind their posts.
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It would actually be reckless *not* to identify such conflicts of
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interest. This is particularly important when dealing with Cloudflare
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because they have *proven* to publish misinformation regularly.
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Codeberg's move to *conceal* who represents a company ultimately
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*promotes* corruption and deception.
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Are forums hosted in Germany really forced to operate
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non-transparently and conceal such conflicts of interest from the
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public? *Unlikely*.
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For Codeberg to allege CFT tracks "`personal data`" with social media
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identities is perversely deceptive. CFT did not track personal data
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or dox any social media identities. The social media identities were
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listed and only *public* data was shared -- data that is already
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public on platforms like Twitter. Personally identifiable information
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was not collected on social media aliases even if it was public.
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> Publication of such data, no matter if true or not, without the
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> explicit consent of the person in question is illegal in EU.
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When a user posts a tweet, they do so with consent to the publication
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of that tweet. If Codeberg's assertion above were true, then Twitter mirror sites
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would be banned in Germany for republishing the tweets of Germans.
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We know this is not true because Germans have access to the mirror sites.
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Codeberg's *false* accusation of *illegal* activity came with *destructive*
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removal of forked repositories
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[without warning, without redress, and while refusing explanation](https://codeberg.org/shadow/SpywareWatchdog/issues/77#issuecomment-188170)
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to the users whose data they destroyed.
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In response, Codeberg
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[claims](https://codeberg.org/shadow/SpywareWatchdog/issues/77#issuecomment-188178)
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they had to act immediately to what they perceived as *illegal*
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activity. Even if we were to accept that the already public data
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somehow became sensitive merely by replication, the correct
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non-reckless action is to quarantine the data in a non-public state
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until court proceedings or settlement could commence.
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For Codeberg to destroy people's work, and also destroy what they believed was
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evidence of illegal activity was nothing short of reckless.
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Codeberg's haphazard response has actually created a legal liability
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for themselves, as they *needlessly* destroyed people's work without due
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diligence.
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A take-down request implemented properly and fairly to all sides is
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temporary and non-destructive of the artifacts.
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> - This includes using personally identifiable information of other
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> people without their consent for feigned commit author names and email
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> addresses, potentially incriminating non-participants of acts of
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> privacy violation and leaking proprietary information.
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This is just a statement of Codeberg's interpretation of law. Note
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that Codeberg does not accuse CFT of this, as doing so would be libel
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against CFT. So it's unclear what purpose this statement serves other
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than to imply an accusation without stating it. Such weasel wording
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is designed to *deceive* the public while dodging legal accountability.
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> - Considering reports we received, a significant number of claims and
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> statements were factually false.
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CFT has received only **one** complaint. It involved one social media
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alias that was listed and it turned out to be a misunderstanding
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surrounding the word "`support`". The listed party claimed to not
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personally condone Cloudflare and thus claimed to not be a Cloudflare
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"supporter" on that basis.
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But investigation of [public statements](https://codeberg.org/swiso/website/issues/141#issuecomment-69593)
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by that individual revealed that the other party *actually* supported
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Cloudflare *operationally*. Note that Codeberg *destroyed* the
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investigation logs which led to the finding, so we can't cite them here.
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> The pure existence of lists "Enemies of X" is by all rational means
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> unlikely to have any other purpose than public shaming, defamation,
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> threatening and libel. These are generally considered illegal in
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> German law and elsewhere.
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The mere existence of a list of Cloudflare supporters certainly does
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*not* imply shaming. The list *can potentially* be used for shaming
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or praising, as well as in countless ways orthogonal to both *praise*
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and *shame*. Codeberg further produces *no evidence* that the list was
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used for *shaming* (which should be quite easy to do if they've had
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complaints on the scale that they allege).
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It's important to establish *bias* so that readers can assess the
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accuracy of statements made by someone who is biased. This is why
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aliases of those entrusted with advice on matters of privacy were
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collected. It's important to track the underlying bias behind privacy
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advocacy sites to address the problem of detrimental advice.
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### Analysis of Codeberg's Blog Announcement
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2021-04-13 23:40:33 +00:00
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Codeberg [said](https://web.archive.org/web/20210406012737/https://blog.codeberg.org/on-the-cloudflare-tor-takedown.html):
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> In the last couple of days, we have received multiple inquiries to
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> remove **sensitive information** from the crimeflare/cloudflare-tor
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> repository and all clones and forks of that repository hosted on
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> Codeberg.org.
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(emphasis added)
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Data published on Twitter and public forums is *not* sensitive. Anyone
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who posts in a *public space* and later has regrets, they have only
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themselves to blame.
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Once you share your information publicly, you can't control them anymore.
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> We have been made aware that this repository contains lists of
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> usernames that are either linked with their Codeberg profile or
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> their social media accounts and allegedly blamed as Cloudflare
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> supporters without an evidence
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CFT was never asked for evidence. Only *one* complaint was received.
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It was investigated and evidence was provided to the subject.
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> We started a discussion with the maintainers of this repository and
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> asked to remove these sensitive information, that are apparently for
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> shaming people (defamation),
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CFT did not "*shame*" or "*defame*" anyone, and no evidence was given to
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that effect. Codeberg admitted earlier that their assumption is that
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a list of Cloudflare supporters inherently shames people. Yet the
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list is objective. It's for the reader to decide if the list is of
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shame or of pride. No value judgment was expressed by the CFT
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project.
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> According to GDPR, we are obligued to remove sensitive user
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> information as soon as a concerned person demands us to do so.
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The GDPR does not protect legal persons (i.e. organizations) and it
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[does not protect anonymous information](https://gdpr-info.eu/recitals/no-26).
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Specifically:
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```
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"The principles of data protection should therefore not apply to
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anonymous information, namely information which does not relate to an
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identified or identifiable natural person or to personal data rendered
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anonymous in such a manner that the data subject is not or no longer
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identifiable. This Regulation does not therefore concern the
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processing of such anonymous information, including for statistical or
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research purposes."
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```
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CFT's [Cloudflare supporter list](../cloudflare_users/cloudflare_supporter.md) did not contain real names; only
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pseudoanonymous aliases.
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The listed alias of the subject who complained did not use an alias
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formed like "firstName_lastName", or any form that could reasonably
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identify a natural individual person.
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The sole complaint CFT received lead to an investigation that found
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the data **accurate**. Even though the GDPR right to be forgotten does
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not have force in that case, it was removed anyway and therefore CFT
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was (and remains) in compliance with the GDPR right to be forgotten.
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Yet Codeberg still removed the project despite immediate compliance.
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> as well as Cloudflare employee data, that are considered as private
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> information
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CloudFlare itself is
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[listing](https://web.archive.org/web/20210406200322/https://www.cloudflare.com/people)
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their employees, so it's already public information.
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> People reaching out to us and to the maintainers of the repository
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> itself tried to make clear that they do not consider themselves as
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> Cloudflare-supporters, but critical opponents of this company, and
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> thus could not even imagine a reason for being listed there.
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CFT only received *one* complaint regarding *one* individual. CFT has
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*continously* been in GDPR compliance at *all times*. Codeberg destroyed
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the repository anyway.
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"`Support`" comes in many forms. You can support Cloudflare by
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praising it, or you can support Cloudflare through actions (which may
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even be unwitting to the supporter). In the one case that CFT
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investigated, the subject's understanding narrowly assumed "support"
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was limited to philosophical praise.
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> We can not accept anyone attacking and threatening us and our users
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> (or anyone for that matter), or inciting others to do so.
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This is weasel wording, as directly accusing CFT of attacking or
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threatening Cloudflare supporters would constitute libel on the part
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of Codeberg. So they try to *imply* it. These claims can only be
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ignored in the absence of evidence.
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---
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Original text provided by [humanacollaborator](https://git.sdf.org/humanacollaborator). [License](../LICENSE.md)
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