It's been sad to watch. GrapheneOS really is an amazing operating system. From a technical perspective, it absolutely is the most private and security-focused phone OS out there. Daniel is an amazing developer with an incredible understanding of AOSP and security concepts, as is obvious to anyone who's read the materials on the GrapheneOS webpage.
But the social negativity has been building for a long time. As lead developer (until today) of a prominent security-focused open source project, Daniel receives constant harassment, including from what are likely organized campaigns. I fully believe his statements that he recently got swatted, something tantamount to attempted murder. But he reacts very badly to the anonymous trolls, ascribing their actions to unrelated people. For instance, he's been fixated on Techlore (a relatively unimportant Youtuber) ever since Techlore posted a video about GrapheneOS that was mildly positive but overall critical. Daniel drew a connection between Techlore and trollish harassment he received around the same time—falsely, IMO—and ever since has consistently accused Techlore of organizing any harassment he receives. And the story repeats itself in Daniel's relationship with other groups in the privacy space (such as CalyxOS, r/privacy...). The fallout continues to expand, as any observer who expresses any nuance is accused by Daniel of toxicity, supporting harassers and harassment, etc.
I'm willing to grant some leeway to people in Daniel's situation. It's tough to handle aggressive harassment and stalking and behave correctly every time in response. But there's a limit to how much you can get wrong, and Daniel has exceeded it. He can't keep drawing false connections between unrelated people and the real harassment he's receiving. Doing so won't stop the harassment, and it's going to torpedo GrapheneOS if something isn't done.
My hope has been that someone close to him that he trusts would set up an intervention. Maybe that's what resulted in him stepping down today. I hope this will improve the community situation around GrapheneOS (whose technical reputation remains, I think, totally unscathed), and I really hope Daniel will now get the mental health relief that he needs.
Agreed. Genuinely sad, he's an absolute beast. Nothing compares to GrapheneOS.
Louis Rossmann (1.7m subscribers) ascribing his decision to leave GrapheneOS directly to the behaviour of Daniel Micay and stating that "he will never feel comfortable running this code on my phone as long as this person is involved in it" probably began triggering real calculations within the team as to what extent he was slowly becoming more of a liability to the project than an asset. Although, it's unlikely Louis saying that was going to affect the project in any meaningful way, this is not the kind of commentary that makes your position more tenable. I'm glad Daniel pre-empted those conversations by taking the decision to step away himself.
There is no doubt in my mind that Daniel Micay has been subjected to systematic harassment campaigns, far exceeding those of a typical open-source developer of his stature. That kind of stuff has an impact on you and as a result you behave in a less reasonable manner (i.e. more paranoid, less trusting). I just hope the dude takes a long break, gets buff and comes back stronger.
I've only just dived a bit into the saga, though mostly on the Louis and Techlore side. Both of them have proof of negative behaviour by Micay, while one defense I found had basically no proof of Micay being harassed.
So, my question, do you have concrete proof about Micay being harassed? Screenshot, links, whatever can back up Micay's words.
The saga started way back with the Copperhead OS situation [1]. I believe Daniel has never been able to work through that breach of trust, and that has bled out into his behavior online and the real world.
Note it's very hard to find mainstream sources on this.
basically a high profile youtuber decided to weaponize his fanbase to smear and slander a talented developer because he couldn't get what he wanted out of him. Rossmann mischaracterizes his interactions with Micay and even attempts to used his admitted diagnosis of autism against him. He claims one thing but if you actually read the interactions yourself you'll notice Micay is upset but adamant about his allegations of harassment. Rossmann quite dismissive of his entire explanation and decides he has a better narrative that most people will swallow. Rossmann tone policing a talented dev off his own open source project is the latest in a long line of unwarranted cancellations
Please tell us what Rossmann would want from Micay ?
Rossmann made some of the most enthusiastic videos spreading awareness about the GrapheneOS project, and even provided funding through his work at FUTO.
What does Micay have to offer to him, beside keep working on his project ?n
