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Defcon X - Live in Las Vegas
Navisto writes: "DEFCON X gathering has begun in Las Vegas already as everyone begins to prepare for the start of Friday's event at the Alexis Park. The hacking convention is in its' 10th year and this is said to be the largest yet. This year there are dozens of speeches happening ranging from wireless, .Net security all the way to Mac OS X AppleScript security issues and hacks. Gathering in Las Vegas brings all the hackers together. This year the official events of Defcon include DC Shoot, Capture the Flag,Hacker Jeopardy, Scavenger Hunt, and this year's first WarDriving Contest. When Live Streams are activated the information will be posted on defcon.org and on the Defcon Forums... PS - E-Mail the Alexis Park letting them know their site isn't cross-browser compatible. Not everyone uses IE and NS ;)"
While I agree that the spooks tend to run a little thick at these events, and that their supervision is often unwarranted (literally!), I don't know if you can really complain about that. I know I am setting myself for a huge loss of karma, but I'd like to speak my mind irregardless.
Now I don't mean to imply that you deserve such measures, but to a certain extent, I think you (and other attendants of DefCon and similar events, like H2K2 and SIGGRAPH) bring it on yourselves. The world has changed a lot since 9/11, and there is a ton of evidence pointing to computer hackers' involvement in terrorist activity. Obviously, the vast majority of people interested in computers are "good guys." But I don't think it's uncalled-for for the fibbies to pay a little, uh, extra attention to those who show an unusual interest in security, especially if it is not immediately relevant to their career. Remember, people called it "paranoia" when Jews fled Germany in 1937...sometimes such fear and extreme measures are necessary.
Just something to think about. Any other thoughts?
Karma: Good (despite my invention of the Karma: sig)
I will be giving a talk on The Freenet Project at 5pm next Friday at DEFCON. If anyone would like a high-speed warts 'n all introduction to what's interesting about Freenet, past, present, and future, feel free to stop-by.
</Shameless Self-promotion>
"Hackers gather for largest convention of the year."
"Mustang Ranch prepares for busiest weekend of the year."
forget it.
Defcon was, at one time, a cool place to go and meet really freaking cool people that didn't live anywhere near your area code. Since Defcon has been at the Alexis Park, however, it's attracted a completely different crowd. Basically, Defcon is the culmination of the Black Hat Briefings, a weeklong big-dollar security conference. The attitude is, come to Vegas during the week, see the shows, attend the real security briefings, and on the weekend we trot out the tattooed freaks for your amusement. Defcon isn't just a simple hacker con like Cuervocon or Xcon used to be. It's the weekend entertainment for a weeklong security conference. Few coders, but plenty of people dressed in black playing quake on windows laptops.
Shutting down free speech with violence isn't fighting fascism. It IS fascism!
Waaait a second, DefCon overlaps ComiCon?
...or hundreds of comic book geeks will be too busy hacking their credit accounts at the local comic shop to get their books signed?
Hundreds of hackers will be too busy clamoring for autographed copies of Busty Bunny Crime Fighters #1 to even attend!
hmm.. either way, a true geek's nightmare!
^nA! Creatures in my Head