“We just want to ask you some questions… have you ever been on 60 minutes?”
Story. (h/t Maz2 in the comments)
More: Dave provides more links in the comments;
this MSM reporter wanted to play “gotcha” journalism, got caught then experienced firsthand what the MSM is perfectly happy to do to others. Poetic Justice, and she can cry me a river. I doubt anyone here would want a reporter playing any games like this with them.
Yup.
Apparantly the spook geeks don’t like to be toyed with.
go figure.
Syncro
Badges! We don’t need no stinkin badges.
The little ghosts in the machine are spiteful little vandals aren’t they.
I guess you can’t expect better behavior from puerile net delinquents.
For what these little turdballs have cost us in security and anti-virus software, they get no sympathy from me….if there were Feds at this hacker love-in I hope they were taking names…if not we should know why not.
The thing that is truly sad is the gaggle that turned into paparazzi going after the mole. Talk about sinking to the level of a tabloid journalist…
BTW, These are not necessarily the “hackers” that launch malicious viruses and such. The term hacker has morphed from the original definition. Hacking now describes any modification, add-ons or tricks to improve or change the operation of your OS or software. Books stores are full of these “Hacking” books and they all deal with setting up something other than default settings. Of course, in Ontario this could get your PC crushed with your Toyota that might be used for racing.
The thing that is truly sad is the gaggle that turned into paparazzi going after the mole. Talk about sinking to the level of a tabloid journalist…
BTW, These are not necessarily the “hackers” that launch malicious viruses and such. The term hacker has morphed from the original definition. Hacking now describes any modification, add-ons or tricks to improve or change the operation of your OS or software. Books stores are full of these “Hacking” books and they all deal with setting up something other than default settings. Of course, in Ontario this could get your PC crushed with your Toyota that might be used for racing.
The thing that is truly sad is the gaggle that turned into paparazzi going after the mole. Talk about sinking to the level of a tabloid journalist…
BTW, These are not necessarily the “hackers” that launch malicious viruses and such. The term hacker has morphed from the original definition. Hacking now describes any modification, add-ons or tricks to improve or change the operation of your OS or software. Books stores are full of these “Hacking” books and they all deal with setting up something other than default settings. Of course, in Ontario this could get your PC crushed with your Toyota that might be used for racing.
Seems like a very adult reaction to me by the “hackers”.
What’s the controversy other than a scum bag reporter doing what they do?
I think those l33t hax0rz are just lucky they didn’t send a male of slightly below average strength and coordination to the event. If they did, he probably would have pinwheeled those nerds into some asthma attacks at best, but more likely into the hospital.
Ladies and Gentlemen, talk about the people here missing the point.
TC, this MSM reporter wanted to play “gotcha” journalism, got caught then experienced firsthand what the MSM is perfectly happy to do to others. Poetic Justice, and she can cry me a river. I doubt anyone here would want a reporter playing any games like this with them.
From the Defcon Faq
“Q: I’m press, how do I sign up, why can’t I get in for free (I’m just doing my job)?
A: Please email press[at]defcon[dot]org if you wish press credentials. Lots of people come to DEFCON and are doing their job; security professionals, federal agents, and the press. It wouldn’t be fair to DEFCON attendees if we exempted one group from paying. If you are a major network and plan on doing a two minute piece showing all the people with blue hair, you probably shouldn’t bother applying for a press pass – you won’t get one. If you are a security writer or from a real publication please submit, and someone will respond with an answer.”
Several other points:
Most of the Defcon people ( I can’t guarantee all ) are interested in exposing flaws in security so they can be fixed. Government agencies do attend, and they actually get a better reception when they don’t play undercover cop.
http://www.defcon.org/
http://www.defcon.org/html/defcon-15/dc-15-schedule.html
Read and Learn. I hate spyware and viruses too, but these aren’t the droids you are looking for. Some of these people are trying to fix the problem.
Enjoy your Sunday, all.
Dave
Yes, a journalist got some of her own medicine back, having a mike shoved in her face and followed by cameras. Other than that, pretty childish behaviour all round.
This group just doesn’t like to be hacked. They think it’s both immoral and unethical to break in without proper identification and authorization.
And who could disagree?
More from NBC and DATELIES the liberal left-wing news media cant be trusted at all
Some other links to what happened:
http://blog.wired.com/27bstroke6/2007/08/media-mole-at-d.html
http://blogs.pcworld.com/staffblog/archives/005078.html
From the PC World article
“Another Defcon ‘goon,’ or security person, who wants to stay anonymous says he asked Madigan if she wanted press credentials when she arrived, but she turned him down. He asked if she wanted to see the press rules and regulations, and she again said no. Amazingly, he says Madigan then said she had to go to the bathroom and put on a hidden camera.
Not the most adept attempt at going undercover. Her hidden camera was inside a black bag Madigan carried over her shoulder, the security person says. The bag is visible in the image above.
According to the security person, it was “painfully obvious that [Madigan] was panning her purse around the room.”
Ironically, the drama may bring to light some similarities between the hackers and the reporters here to cover them.
“Ten percent of you guys, just like ten percent of us, have given you all a bad name,” says Priest. “The criminal element is a very small element of this community.”
So supposedly they did recognize her, offered her press credentials and asked her to abide by the rules; she refused (guess she didn’t think those rules applied to her).
The Wired story mentioned that one of the things she wanted to do was to “out” an undercover government agent. Nice.
I don’t think it was a matter the Defcon people didn’t like being hacked or social engineered, just that they didn’t like having someone lie straight to their face, and believe they could get away with it. And I wouldn’t disagree with that.
Welcome to “the story”, babe.
Totally understandable response from the DefCon crowd, and she got off easy – they didn’t even wipe her SIM or credit cards.
Hardly worth the time, I guess.
I don’t get the point of the story. All of a sudden it’s a big deal she was secretly taping the event?
What’s the difference between her and the journalists that secretly tape radical imams espousing pro-terrorist speech at a mosque???
“I doubt anyone here would want a reporter playing any games like this with them.”
I want and enjoy reporters “playing games like this”. If you don’t want to be secretly filmed by a reporter, try not engaging in activities that warrant it…
Wow. The mob acted just like the reporters they detest so much. Hypocrites. Too bad they couldn’t act with a bit of class.
One should never miss an opportunity to deliver some well deserved payback.
Wow. The mob acted just like the reporters they detest so much. Hypocrites. Too bad they couldn’t act with a bit of class.
Actually they showed far more class then the young lady did.
Whatever turns your crank.
It will be interesting to see if a) Madigan’s total email files don’t show up on a website, b) she suddenly discovers that none of her computer assisted devices – credit cards, cell phone, bank card, laptop, car -don’t work.
This was a reasonable response from a group of people who have rules governing the press at a closed convention. Walking her out to her car…a bit juvenile but so is hiding a camera in your purse.
Knight of Good Mr. Iron Man asks “What’s the difference between her and the journalists that secretly tape radical imams espousing pro-terrorist speech at a mosque???”
Well, that’s the question isn’t it? One is a sneaky reporter recording a bunch of religious fascists trying to destroy Western civilization and replace it with their really bent form of Islam.
The other is some sneaky news chick trying to make something out of nothing by smearing a bunch of computer security geeks.
One deserves a medal, the other a taste of her own medicine. Too bad they couldn’t perp-walk her boss as well.
Maybe the next time some editorial genius at NBC thinks up a Gotcha News Segment he’ll have trouble finding volunteers.
BTW, Hack-a-Day has some good ‘n fun coverage of the Defcon 15 convention.
http://www.hackaday.com/
Fun stuff like how to circumvent biometric scanners. Something we may all have to know pretty soon, if Nanny State weenies keep doing things like DNA databases.
What I take away from all this? Don’t keep anything important on-line, and don’t irritate the hacker wizards “for they are subtle and quick to anger”.
Geek bonus points for anybody who can name the source of that quote. ~:D
“Do not meddle in the affairs of wizards – it makes them soggy and hard to light.”
Phantom, here’s another question. If a reporter showed up at an Islamist conference with “Let’s kill the western devils” on the agenda, would any reporter be allowed in? Remember, this reporter was asked, time and time again, to register as a reporter. Would the Islamists have allowed this?
So much for the equivalency argument, eh.
Shamrock, the nice Islamist fundies would certainly let the reporter in. They would even let him/her back out again. Just a bit shorter is all.
dave: these aren’t the droids you are looking for
oh man, i lol’d. nicely put.
Phantom: Sounds like an elf to me, maybe legolas? Regardless, it was about Gandalf. +1 exp. pt?
To all of you who think these DefCon people are heroes of some sort: Should bloggers attending conventions have to wear press credentials if they want to blog about them? What if the convention wants to have PR people escort the bloggers around and watch over their shoulders as they write? Should bloggers need to get the permission of their subjects before they write about them? Do corporations have the right to control how they are portrayed on blogs?
Some of you are so blinded by your hatred of traditional media that you don’t recognize enemies of an open society when you see them.
Here’s a better question, what the difference between this post and:
http://littlegreenfootballs.com/weblog/?entry=26581_Video-_UK_Police_Investigate_Journalists_Hate_Preachers_Get_a_Pass&only
???
“To all of you who think these DefCon people are heroes of some sort: Should bloggers attending conventions have to wear press credentials if they want to blog about them? What if the convention wants to have PR people escort the bloggers around and watch over their shoulders as they write? Should bloggers need to get the permission of their subjects before they write about them? Do corporations have the right to control how they are portrayed on blogs?”
I’ll be generous and assume you are not trolling. The issue here is not (and never was) needing permission to blog Defcon. Defcon has been covered by lots of blogs (I linked to a few). I see lots of bloggers who did not declare themselves as press, and some that did. But the rule “no photos or video without permission” applies to everyone. For some reason (MSM guild status?) this reporter felt she could violate that and got caught. The rest of the above quote is a weak straw man argument.
Next, this issue is not (and never was) the fact that some people at Defcon may have bad intent (pick any group and you will discover people with bad intent). I never claimed all these guys were “heros”, but by the same token why are people here trying to tar everone attending Defcon as a criminal.
“Some of you are so blinded by your hatred of traditional media that you don’t recognize enemies of an open society when you see them. ”
Blinded by hatred? Oh please. Sensitive to MSM BS? Oh yes. The Dateline story was no piece of solid journalism like “Undercover Mosque”, there was no one on the Defcon stage threatening to kill non-believers, there was no crime taking place. So what was the supposed story? Funny looking people who know about computers attending a public convention with government agents. Very scary stuff!
Enemies of an open society? Another weak straw man. As a group, they are much more likely to believe in public security by transparancy, open source, look at the code, spot the flaws and make the code better. Some will exploit the flaws, but those aren’t necessarily the ones that attend public conventions in Vegas.
“Here’s a better question, what the difference between this post and http://littlegreenfootballs.com/weblog/?entry=26581_Video-_UK_Police_Investigate_Journalists_Hate_Preachers_Get_a_Pass&only“
Umm…maybe threatening to kill unbelievers…bad (though apparently not prosecutable in the UK). Meeting to talk about computer security…good?
If you don’t see any difference you could also believe that South Korea is no better than North Korea (just with more nifty consumers electronics). And you don’t believe that now…do you?
“But the rule “no photos or video without permission” applies to everyone.”
Yes, but is this a good rule, or an attempt to shield the convention from criticism? I fully expect people who break rules and get caught to face consequences. But I don’t know why people on this blog are cheering for rules that restrict media coverage.
“The Dateline story was no piece of solid journalism like “Undercover Mosque”, there was no one on the Defcon stage threatening to kill non-believers, there was no crime taking place.”
Who gets to decide what’s solid journalism, and who’s allowed to use hidden cameras? My understanding of the Dateline story is that the reporter was filming because she thought crimes (illegal hacking) might have taken place. It sounds like you’re saying that she should have just asked Defcon “Are you committing any crimes?” and backed off when they said “no.”