HBGary Federal Forces Aaron Barr Out of DEFCON
Trailrunner7 writes "Former HBGary Federal CEO Aaron Barr says he will withdraw from a planned appearance at the DEFCON conference in the face of threatened legal action over his plans to take part in a panel discussion there. Barr notified DEFCON organizers on Wednesday that he was withdrawing from the Aug. 6 panel discussion after attorneys representing HBGary Federal threatened to file an injunction against him if he did not withdraw from the panel immediately. The incident is just the latest in a series of conflicts between Barr and HBGary Federal following attacks by the anarchic hacking group Anonymous on February 5."
I can only imagine what would happen if he were to get up on stage and start speaking about security practices..
...what do they have to hide? Whats good for the goose is good for the...oh fuck it. Who am I kidding. That ideology hasn't applied for years when in comes to revolving door deals between the Feds and Corps. vs. The People.
'We are trying to prove ourselves wrong as quickly as possible, because only in that way can we find progress.' RPF
You don't fuck with our rights and freedom.
The measure of a man is the path he takes in the face of inconvenience. Nice try anyway. Wish someone would harden up and do something good for the world. The occult shall inherit the earth, and we'll do nothing because of normalcy bias.
Alexander Hamilton is laughing in his grave.
I guess they're not the best of pals any more.
Parity: What to do when the weekend comes.
Yes, I don't understand how they were going to get an injunction against him. The only way they would know the content of his speech is if it was on the agenda. Why not just list him as a "Featured Speaker" with no topic. How can a judge grant an injunction in that case?
Announcer 1: "I'd like to welcome all our viewers to this auspicious event ..."
Announcer 2: "That's right, Tom, as the attendees roll up we're likely to see some--oh wait, who's that getting out of that limo as we speak?"
Announcer 1: "I believe that's former CEO of Diebold Walden O'Dell."
Announcer 2: "Yes, yes it is, that's certainly a 2004 Bush/Haliburten logo on the side of his limo!"
Announcer 1: "A good start to the evening but who is this chauffeuring himself around?"
Announcer 2: "Well, the person handing his keys to the valet right now is none other than Darl McBride!"
Announcer 1: "You know, you wouldn't believe it but these people -- these infamous people sound so large in print and yet they look and act just like regular people. No fake smiles here."
Announcer 2: "You know, McBride has fallen on some hard times but rest assured that he will be back to his full potential at some point in his career."
Announcer 1: "I do not believe it. Is that Jack Thompson right behind McBride?"
Announcer 2: "Well, somebody take a picture, I don't think these two titans have ever even been seen together."
Announcer 1: "I will never forget Jack Thompson's disbarment from practicing law in Florida. Clearly, there walks a man willing to sacrifice it all."
Announcer 2: "And, oh, look at this newcomer. Some say he will walk away with the golden trucker hat tonight, Tom. It is none other than Aaron Barr."
Announcer 1: "The man that exemplified being a dbag to such a degree, he was not afraid to literally rip the constitution out of its display case and wipe his ass with it publicly. Words cannot describe the feeling of awe I am experiencing right now."
Announcer 2: "His swagger, his grease-backed hair, his beady eyes, the way they shift back and fourth. I'm trying hard to describe this prima donna but I am failing. No other person in my life has caused me to want to turn and lay tracks anymore than this magnificent dbag."
Announcer 1: "Well, that means a lot, you hosted the Serial Murderer Awards two years ago, right?"
Announcer 2: "That's right, the 2009 Stabbies."
Announcer 1: "Well, this is just going to be one amazing night with Aaron Barr vying for 2011 dbag of the year."
My work here is dung.
A little late... he shot Alexander Hamilton two centuries ago.
Well, he can still take part in the panel by wearing a Guy Fawkes mask. No one would know!
FTA: The group was angered after reading an interview Barr gave with the Financial Times regarding his plans to give a presentation at the Security B-Sides conference in San Francisco earlier this year that promised to divulge the identities of Anonymous's leadership.
I wasn't aware that Anonymous attacked HBGary after Barr threatened to out their leadership. I guess it's okay for them to put others at risk, but they're not willing to have themselves at risk.
If you are a high profile target or will cause massive controversy, why cant you sign up as "Anonymous speaker XYZ"? Identity revealed at the beginning of show/panel.
At first glance, I read it as Aaron Burr and thought maybe they went out into the countryside and had a duel.
For all intensive purposes, "whom" is no longer a word. That begs the question, "who cares"?
An interesting side note is that HBGary is handle for Alaxender Hamaltun.
HBGary morons threatened a panelist out of a defcon conference.
as much as i came to learn the hackers from these events, such an act in hacker language has the meaning of 'come fuck me'.
these idiots will never learn.
Read radical news here
This is your "freedom" in the USA...
Recipes for USA bankrupt - http://tinypaste.com/0d66f dd = dollar deluge (printed in the infinity)
So first, Aaron Barr was going to give a talk about Anonymous at BSides SF, and the Anonymous tinfoil hat brigade got all up in arms and attacked him and his company because he wanted to excercise his right to free speech.
Now, Aaron Barr has been forced to cancel a talk about Anonymous at DEFCON, and the Anonymous tinfoil hat brigade is all up in arms because his freedom of speech is being infringed?
Guys, you really have to decide what it is you care about, and not have your passionate belief one week be in stringent opposition to your passionate belief the next. HBGary Federal told Aaron Barr that if he chose to pursue Action A, he would face Consequence B, and Aaron Barr decided that Consequence B was not worth the benefits from Action A, and that's the way grown-ups operate. It's not a major shock that most of you don't recognize this as normal behavior.
Here's a tip that might help those of you who don't understand how his freedom of speech isn't being infringed upon. You should have learned this in middle school, but since obviously you didn't, here you go: the only entity that can unlawfully infringe on your freedom of speech is the government. If you want to publish something in the local newspaper and they say no, that is not a free speech issue, and if you want to sing ballads in the middle of your local mall, they have every right to tell you to stop and make you leave. People tend to forget that the First Amendment is intended to protect our right to free speech from the government, not from each other. I have every right to try to stop you from voicing your opinion, and you have no legal recourse against me if I do.
Grow Up. Learn. Then Speak.
I'm glad they are keeping that idiot from speaking.. We need smart people at defcon, not dumbass corporate spies and world cyber war doomsayers robbing the taxpayers. Besides, all he knows how to do is run a few process monitoring apps and paste it in a report for the DoD...
Defcon is supposed to be a space for intelligent free-thinkers, not dubious corporate criminals that fancy themselves as spies.
To those of you that consider it a freedom of speech issue, you can cry about your rights all you want, but what you should do instead of post on a forum is organize to fight for them. The battle isn't over... Get in the streets. Think of how long it's taken for the civil rights movement, and how little it's accomplished (sure segregation was bad, but it still exists). Look at how long we still have to go in the fight for social justice...