Every year you tend to hope for something that will be the memorable event for Defcon. I think we have a strong contender today. Apparently there was a journalist in the crowd that was interviewing hackers all the while under the guise of hiring hackers for a job. Normally this would not be a problem but, this particular journalist must have been on the payroll for Fox News (read= dumbass).
I should preface this by saying that the media has coexisted nicely with the Defcon crowd low these many years. This is by no means a indictment of the press. This is an example of one moron thinking they could be the next Geraldo.
Just at the start of the session today for HD Moore and Valsmith’s talk on Tactical Exploitation there was an announcement. Jeff Moss announced that it had been discovered a journalist had arrived for Defcon and signed up as a “Human” (regular attendee) and was interviewing folks with a pinhole camera. Moss then asked the audience of several hundred people if she should be allow to continue or be removed from the building.
A roar went up.
I was too far back to see but, according to some friends who were close to the front of the room the journalist ran for it. Literally ran from the building. She was never in danger just she had managed to break one of the cardinal rules, no pictures.
The sad thing here is that this could paint the media with a general brush. This was just one dumbass. A quick one at that.
UPDATE: This was apparently Michelle Madigan from Dateline NBC. Nice try lady.
More from Wired Magazine.
And video…
[tags]Journalist, Defcon, Hidden Cameras At Defcon, Michelle Madigan, Dateline NBC, Defcon Video[/tags]