I got home from work early last Thursday afternoon after putting in a couple of hours at work to wrap things up and ensure that nothing would crash, blow up, or spontaneously develop sentience and go on a rampage through the city while I was taking a long weekend in New York City to attend The Next HOPE conference, thrown by 2600 Magazine once again. Unfortunately, this meant taking a couple of phone calls on the way home and throwing a suitcase of stuff together at the last minute so that Hasufin, Mika, and I could then drive to the …
If I am ever the unlikely hero, I will not try to keep important secrets from my associates ("It's for your own protection.")
I will explain to them exactly what's going on so they understand the stuff happening around them better; at least they'll have context for two city blocks suddenly exploding in neon yellow enamel. They'll probably be able to help more effectively and thus get all of us out of whatever's going down.
Chances are if things go pear-shaped the bad guy will kill them along with me, anyway, so there's really no more bad that can come …
As you may or may not be aware The Next HOPE was last weekend, and a veritable firestorm of hacker drama broke out (in both of the usual senses of the word) at the con. I won't be writing about the keynote on Saturday, not yet. Instead, I'll be putting some thoughts together about the arrest of PFC Bradley Manning who is charged with leaking the gun camera footage known as Collateral Murder among other things. If you're not aware of what happened Adrian Lamo, known a few years ago as the homeless hacker, was contacted by PFC Manning who …
I'm back from The Next HOPE in New York City with lots to write about and lots of pictures to put up. However, I'm also snowed under at work this week, so my writeup of the con is going to take a while to put together (a paragraph here and there), edit, check, and finally get posted. Suffice it to say, getting three hours of sleep the night I got back to DC didn't leave me in a state to really do anything coherent. What I will say is that TNH was one of the most powerful experiences I've ever …
Due to the Department of Homeland Security sending some operatives to The Next HOPE to question Julian Assange of Wikileaks about the release of a certain piece of video footage from Iraq he did not come to the con to give the keynote address this afternoon. The guy who was spotted here and there around the con yesterday afternoon was, in fact, not Julian Assange (a few other people made the same mistake, I'm given to understand). In his stead a man with balls made of pure neutronium, Jacob Appelbaum of the Tor Project gave the keynote address. I've only …
Unless you're dealing with the federal government, it has long been a given that the police can't enter and search the place you live without a properly filed and signed search warrant, as guaranteed by the fourth amendment to the US Constitution, which reads thus: "The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no Warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by Oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized."
A few pictures taken from my car during the amazing (even for DC) traffic jam on the Beltway yesterday evening.
Cars, cars as far as the eye could see in triple-digit temperatures. Total driving time: three hours, three minutes. Distance from work to home: 32 miles
