#hackercon

[mostlysignssomeportents]

Skinnamarinkstump Linkdump

I'm on a 20+ city book tour for my new novel PICKS AND SHOVELS. Catch me TODAY (Feb 15) for a virtual event with YANIS VAROUFAKIS, and on MONDAY (Feb 17) for an event at KEPLER'S in MENLO PARK with CHARLIE JANE ANDERS. More tour dates here.

It's Saturday and I'm on a book tour, and the world is in chaos, and there are more links to write about than I could fit in to this week's newsletter, so time for a cubic linkdump, the 27th such:

https://pluralistic.net/tag/linkdump/

Let's start with the best thing I saw all week: a 3D-printed, spring-loaded, clockwork chess pawn that uses a magnet to sense when it has reached the end of the board and SPROING! turns into a queen:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CSOnnle3zbA

The whole video is a fascinating account of the design process, from idea to prototype to finished item, but if you're impatient and want to skip right to the eyeball kick, it's at 12:27-12:35. And if you want to print your own, the files are $12 (cheap!):

https://www.patreon.com/WorksByDesign/shop/queen-pawn-3d-printing-files-614491?source=storefront

Regrettably, not every tech project is a good one. This week, Google abandoned its AI ethics pledge. Unlike most AI ethics pledge, which are full of nonsense about not accidentally creating a vengeful god that turns the human race into paperclips, Google's AI pledge was actually very important, in that the company promised not to make AI that violates human rights, international law, or privacy. There comes a point where harping on Google's abandoned "don't be evil" motto can feel a little hacky, but in this case, I'll make an exception. My EFF colleague Matthew Guariglia tears Google a much-deserved new AIhole over this latest heel turn:

https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2025/02/google-wrong-side-history

Not all bad technology is evil. Some of it is merely very, very stupid. How stupid? Check out Thom Dunn's Wirecutter review of The Heatbit Trio, a space-heater that uses Bitcoin-mining GPUs to generate some of its heat, very slightly offsetting the cost of warming your room – but at a rate that would take decades to recoup the $700 price-tag. Thom got some spicy quotes from Molly White for this one – possibly the first time she's been cited in a home appliance review:

https://www.nytimes.com/wirecutter/reviews/heatbit-space-heater-review/

Staying with crypto freaks for a moment here, Adam Levitin dissects the cryptocurrency "industry"'s latest chorus of aggrieved whining over "debanking":

https://www.creditslips.org/creditslips/2025/02/debanked-by-the-market.html

As Levitin writes, banks aren't kicking cryptocurrency "companies" off their books because the government wants to punish them. Banks have a very good reason to want to avoid doing business with high-dollar scams that have highly correlated implosions, which is to say, times when everyone wants their money back from the cryptocurrency "company" the bank is handling charges for. For a longer explanation that gets into the nitty gritty of bank supervision, check out Patio11's excellent, detailed explainer:

https://www.bitsaboutmoney.com/archive/debanking-and-debunking/

As all the real heads know, "crypto means cryptography," and cryptographers continue to contrive privacy marvels. This week, Kagi – the best search engine, a million times better than Google – released a Privacy Pass authentication plugin, which lets you login to Kagi and run searches without Kagi being able to connect any of the searches you make with your account:

https://blog.kagi.com/kagi-privacy-pass

As an sf/crime writer who sometimes (often) searches for information on committing ghastly crimes and 'orrible murders, the fact that my favorite search engine will be technically incapable of tying those searches to my identity is quite a relief. Read my review of Kagi here:

https://pluralistic.net/2024/04/04/teach-me-how-to-shruggie/#kagi

If you're one of those marvel-contriving hackers, cryptographers, security researchers or tinkerers, you should really consider attending this summer's Hackers on Planet Earth (HOPE), 2600 Magazine's (now) annual (formerly biennial) hacker con. They've just posted their CFP – get those submission in!

https://www.hope.net/cfp-talks.html

Well, I have to post this and get ready for this morning's virtual book tour event with Yanis Varoufakis:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xkIDep7Z4LM

But before I go, one more link: Kevin Steele's 2005 essay on Hypercard, "When Multimedia Was Black & White," an absolute classic, and a beautiful meditation on the art and promise of early hypertext:

https://web.archive.org/web/20240213190609/http://www.kevinsteele.com/smackerel/black_white_00.html

I've known Kevin for most of my life, long before he helped found Mackerel, the pioneering Toronto multimedia company. Long after Mackerel, Kevin went on making wonderful things. In 2023, he published a monumental act of portraiture – a "sequential art" time-series of panoramas of Toronto's hip, ever-changing Queen Street West strip:

https://pluralistic.net/2023/09/13/spadina-to-bathurst/#dukes-cycle

Comparing Kevin's more recent work with that lovely old essay reveals deep correspondences and the progress of a unique and creative soul.

If you'd like an essay-formatted version of this post to read or share, here's a link to it on pluralistic.net, my surveillance-free, ad-free, tracker-free blog:

https://pluralistic.net/2025/02/15/intermixture/#debunking-debanking

[keyport]

Swipe 👉🏻 You can now get select Keyport X DEF CON merch in the @wearedefcon online store including the DC Blackout Pivot 2.0, Sidekick Mini-Reel DC Jack, and the DC SIM Card Clip. Who's going to #DEFCON30? * * * #defcon #defconvendor #defconswag #securityconference #hackercon #blackhat #dc30 #lasvegas #thekeyport (at Las Vegas, Nevada) https://www.instagram.com/p/Cdt9mN2JTey/?igshid=NGJjMDIxMWI=

[muttwizard]

Imagine going to HackerCon or whatever and there's a magician there and they're like "through this trick I will find out your name" and they have a deck of cards but when they start the trick they say they'll need your driver's license and you're like "oh okay this is a joke" so they look at your license and put it at the top of the deck and then they shuffle the cards and they ask you to pick a card and then you do and they say "is your name..."

And it's just your online fursona's name.

[aliceewood]

When you get to build your badge 😁😁😁 #build #gadgets #electronics #hackers #hackercon #bsides #bsides2018 #canberra #australia

[itmeets-blog]

Security Conferences Ranking #2017 #call for papers #Capture The Flag #conference #cybersecurity #defcon #delhi #HackerCon #Hacking Conferences #information security #infosec #IT Events #meets #OWASP #security #summit Security Conferences Ranking Security Conferences Ranking We Are Working to Update this List Soon. Till Then Subscribe to Our NewsLetter of Cyber Security Professionals to Get Updates right into your inbox.

[trockenasche]

via trockenasche’s Activity

[keyport]

Since we sold out on the first day of DEF CON 30, we decided to take pre-orders for most custom #D3FC0N Keyport swag. Use code DC30 to get 10% off. D3FC0N Pre-Orders Extended until Tuesday @10am PST. You can see the collection via mykeyport.com/defcon . . . #dc30 #defconvendor #defcon30 #hackercommunity #lasvegas #hackercon #hacker #maker #keyportsystem #multitool #pockettool #edcgear #edccommunity #edc #edclife #dailycarry #gear #keyport #mykeyport #keychain #keyholder #urbancarvers #urbancarvers #yubico #yubikey (at Las Vegas, Nevada) https://www.instagram.com/p/ChTfGEbLR12/?igshid=NGJjMDIxMWI=

[keyport]

Sneak peak at some of the limited edition DEFCON swag we're bringing this year 🔥 Can't wait for #d3fc0n . . . #dc30 #defconvendor #defcon30 #hackercommunity #lasvegas #hackercon #hacker #maker #defcon #keyportsystem #multitool #pockettool #edcgear #edccommunity #edc #edclife #dailycarry #gear #keyport #mykeyport #keychain #keyholder #urbancarvers #blackhat #whitehat #urbancarvers #yubico #yubikey #keyportpivot2 (at Las Vegas, Nevada) https://www.instagram.com/p/Cg7tpwyvPu-/?igshid=NGJjMDIxMWI=

[itmeets-blog]

Infosec Conference 2017 Infosec Conference 2017 Infosec Conference 2017 We Are Working to Update this List Soon. Till Then Subscribe to Our NewLetter of Cyber Security Professionals to Get Updates right into your inbox.

[itmeets-blog]

Cyber Security Seminars 2017

Cyber Security Seminars 2017 Here Are Few of the Cyber Security Seminars 2017 From All Over The World FloCon 2017 January 9 – January 12 https://itmeets.guru/events/flocon-2017/ BSides San Diego 2017 January 13- January 14 https://itmeets.guru/events/bsides-san-diego/ CIFI Security Summit Dubai 2017 January 18 https://itmeets.guru/events/cifi-security-summit-dubai-2017/ OWASP AppSec California…

[itmeets-blog]

ToorCon 19 CFP

ToorCon 19 CFP #ToorCon #HackerCon #CyberSecurity #infosec #Events #itmeets

ToorCon CFP It’s that time of year again! ToorCon 19 is coming so get your code finished and submit a talk this time around. We’re letting you decide if you want to be a part of our 50-minute talks on Saturday, 20-minute talks on Sunday, and 75-minute talks for our Deep Knowledge Seminars on Friday depending on how much time you need to present your new ideas and techniques. We evaluate our…

[itmeets-blog]

CypherCon CypherCon CypherCon 2.0 is our second year as a Wisconsin hacker conference established to form a distinct centralized symposium for the Wisconsin technological community.  

[itmeets-blog]

Hackfest 2017 CFP

Hackfest 2017 #CFP #hackfest #CyberSecurity #infosec #Events #itmeets

Hackfest is Canada largest hacking conference run by non-profit organisation Hackfest Communication. It take places in Quebec City each November and our 2016 edition brought together more than 800 participants during 2 days of talks on 2 tracks. What makes Hackfest so unique? The wide range of topics, the large number of speakers, but also the participants and the ease of discussion. Among the…

[itmeets-blog]

Blockchain & Cryptocurrency Con 2018 CFP

Blockchain & Cryptocurrency Con 2018 #2017 #call for papers #conference #cybersecurity #event #hacker #HackerCon #information security #infosec #meets #OWASP #seminars

Blockchain & Cryptocurrency Con 2018 Blockchain & Cryptocurrency Con 2018 will be the first, full-coverage, developer and business-friendly technical conference in Texas devoted to the blockchain technology. The host city will be Dallas, and it will take place from February 23 – 24, 2018. It will be an opportunity for all involved in the arena, whether they are building Dapps and crypto-assets on…

[itmeets-blog]

NoSlidesConf 2017

NoSlidesConf 2017 #noslidesconf #CyberSecurity #infosec #events #itmeets

The Wild Bunch is happy to announce that the next edition of NoSlidesConf 2017 will be held in Bologna on 25 November 2017! Call for sessions is officially opened: if you are interested and you want to propose a talk (italian or english languages) please send an email to thewildbunch@noslidesconf.net by 15 September, 24:00 CET. Please remember that NoSlidesConf is about step-by-step technical…

[itmeets-blog]

Ruxcon 2017 CFP

Ruxcon 2017 CFP #2017 #cfp #conference #cybersecurity #events #HackerCon #hacking #Hacking Conferences #information security #infosec #ruxcon

Ruxcon 2017 CFP, The Ruxcon team is pleased to announce the final Call For Presentations for Ruxcon 2017. This year the conference will take place over the weekend of the 21st and 22nd of October at the CQ Function Centre, Melbourne, Australia. The deadline for submissions is the 30th of September, 2017. IMPORTANT DATES September 30 – Final Call For Presentations Close October 18-20 – Ruxcon…