25C3: Nothing to hide (2008) on CCC Event Blog

Streaming & Recording the Conference

Sat, 03 Jan 2009 00:04:59 +0000

Time (2008-12-29) & Number of Streamers

More than 3500 hackers enjoyed this year’s hacker jeopardy through our network of streaming servers. During the course of 25C3 our friends at

FeM ran an array of 6 wmv streaming servers supplemented by 3 ogg theora relays provided by the Chaos family in Ulm and elsewhere. Over 1500 people watched the theora streams, which is almost as many as the wmv streams.

Additionally, we had a number of experimental streams in various other formats.

Streaming and recording the whole conference was only possible thanks to our helpers and angels who ran the live streams and edited the recordings in almost no time. So, if you missed the live events, check out the recordings.

We need your feedback

Wed, 31 Dec 2008 07:46:11 +0000

As usual, we ask you to give your opinion on the lectures held at 25C3. Just go to the “Fahrplan”, click on the lectures you attended (or watched on video), click the feedback button, and tell us your impression. It is interesting and possibly helpful for the speakers to know your (anonymous) thoughts about their talks, and it is very important for the organizers to know what you liked and what you didn’t, when planning the next event. So, please, take your time to evaluate this year’s program.

Moreover, general feedback on all aspects of the event is welcome. Feel free to contribute to the feedback page in the wiki or to the Photo Documentation, and if there is something you want to tell everybody, blog about it and publish a link in the wiki, or just write it here.

Day 4 Schedule Updates

Tue, 30 Dec 2008 11:08:10 +0000

Sadly, we’re on the last day of the 25C3. The good news is that your printed schedule is accurate with one very notable exception. All we have for you today is the addition of two really great talks in Saal 2:

14:00: Vertex Hacking: Reverse Engineering von 3D-Dateiformaten: “Es geht um die Methoden beim Umgang mit unbekannten Dateiformaten, speziell im Bereich der 3D-Modelle. Vorgestellt werden sollen die Werkzeuge, die Vorgehensweise, ein paar mögliche Fallstricke, interessante Implementierungsdetails und schlussendlich auch das Ergebnis in Form der Bibliothek libg3d.”
15:15: Mining social contacts with active RFID: “We describe the implementation of a distributed proximity detection firmware for the OpenBeacon RFID platform. We report on experiments performed during conference gatherings, where the new feature of proximity detection was used to mine and expose patterns of social contact. We discuss some properties of the networks of social contact, and show how these networks can be analyzed, visualized, and used to infer the underlying social structure.”

In addition, Security Nightmares 2009 will be translated into English and simulcast in Saal 3.

The cat is out of the bag …

Tue, 30 Dec 2008 10:50:21 +0000

The title of the talk “Making the theoretical possible” has been changed to “MD5 considered harmful today: Creating a rogue CA certificate”. The speakers will be Alexander Sotirov, Marc Stevens and Jacob Appelbaum.

Dag Arne Osvik, David Molnar, Arjen Lenstra and Benne de Weger will also be in the audience.

From left to right: Benne de Weger, Arjen Lenstra, Marc Stevens, Jacob Appelbaum, David Molnar, Alexander Sotirov. Photo: Alexander Klink (CC-BY)

Formica Swarm Robot Kits

Mon, 29 Dec 2008 19:07:13 +0000

Fornicating Formica robots

I gave the talk on the Formica project; thanks to all who watched. We had not realised the demand for kits. We started a mailing list at the end, but too late! So if you’re interested, please email me. If demand is sufficiently high we’ll sort something out. More information is available at:

http://warrantyvoidifremoved.com/formica

Space aliens from the future spotted at 25C3!

Mon, 29 Dec 2008 19:04:31 +0000

Power to the People Fundraiser at the c-base tonight!

Mon, 29 Dec 2008 16:14:51 +0000

The Raumstation needs your help! Tonight, hackerspaces.org is bringing together hackerspaces, lockpickers, makers, crafters and other hacker groups from around the world to help the c-base. Please join us for an evening of foodhacking, fundraising and friendship to help secure the continued exploration of the space station under Berlin! Relax with food, chill music and have a quiet night before Silvester!

Here is the lineup of events going on tonight at the c-base:

18:00: Aktivismus im digitalen Zeitalter: Markus Beckedahl (de): Markus zeigt auf, wie Politik und politische Kampagnen im Internetzeitalter jenseits zentraler Steuerung als Mitmachprojekte im Open-Source-Stil bereits funktionieren und in Zukunft funktionieren können. (Note: This event is in German)
19:00: Semantic Food Engine: Join the hacker chefs from foodhacking.com as they go through the night’s gastronomy food technology, and enjoy a fresh dinner prepared by fellow congress attendees.
20:30: Das Snafu-Prinzip: Daniel Kulla (de): Eine Einführung in das Sanfu-Prinzip und wie es sich auswirkt und was dagegen hilft, gerade für sehr flache und informelle Informationshierarchien wie den CCC. (Note: This event is in German)
22:00: The Power to the People Auction: This is your chance to directly support the c-base and walk away with really cool stuff! Come find out what SSD eV, NYCResistor, HacDC, Noisebridge, OpenAMD, Metalab, RepRap and many others have donated really cool things to help raise money for the c-base. Nick Farr and Astera from hackerspaces.org will be continuing a grand North American hacker conference tradition of fundraising and storytelling through hacker memorabilia. You might even walk away with a certain hacker’s suit, leaving him with nothing but jeans and a t-shirt to wear. ;)

More awesome photos from Day 2!

Mon, 29 Dec 2008 13:02:17 +0000

Thanks to tef, netwalkerz_net, kap4001, hypatia.ca and Security4all. Don’t forget to tag your photos “25C3” and if possible, license your photos with a Creative Commons license. If there’s a particular picture you would like to see, leave a comment in this post!

Day 3 Schedule Updates

Mon, 29 Dec 2008 12:13:58 +0000

Here are some quick updates to the schedule that do not appear in the printed program:

Analyzing RFID Security with Henryk Plötz and Karsten Nohl will be appearing in Saal 1 at 16:00: “Many RFID tags have weaknesses, but the security level of different tags varies widely…we illustrate the complexity of RFID systems and discuss different attack vectors…we release an open-source, software-controlled, and extensible RFID reader with support for most common standards.”
DECT: The Digital Enhanced Cordless Telecommunications standard will also be appearing in Saal 1 at 17:15: “Most parts of the DECT standard are public, but all cryptographic algorithms used in DECT (authentication and encryption) are secret and not known to the public. Nevertheless we decided to investigate the security of DECT closer …”
A new round of lightning talks has been added! They will be in Saal 3 at 20:30. Check the Lightning Talks Wiki Page for more information.
The “Xbox360 – Rebooter” talk scheduled for Saal 3 at 20:30 has been cancelled.
Weizenbaum: Rebel at work is appearing in Saal 3 at 21:45: “Bekannt wurde er in den 70er Jahren als scharfzüngiger Wissenschafts- und Gesellschaftskritiker. Sein Buch “Die Macht der Computer und die Ohnmacht der Vernunft” ist zum Klassiker geworden, sowohl unter Philosophen als auch unter Informatiker.”
The “We got owned by the (rhymes-with-unease)…” talk scheduled for Saal 2 at 23:00 has been cancelled.
As announced yesterday, Hacker Jeopardy will be live translated into English in Saal 3 beginning at 23:00.

Thanks to MrTopf for the great photo from this morning’s Privacy Workshop Project talk.

The funny events are being translated into English!

Sun, 28 Dec 2008 21:29:46 +0000

Non-German Speaking peoples! Now you too can find out what’s so funny about the Fnord News Show, and Hacker Jeopardy. These really popular events will be live simulcasted and translated into English for your viewing pleasure in Saal 3 on Day 2 (today) and Day 3 (tomorrow)!

Phonoelit party tonight!

Sun, 28 Dec 2008 17:52:16 +0000

The Phonoelit party is almost upon us. Come join us at the c-base as Dj Vela of Dangerous Drums and Mumpi of Phenoelit push you to the limit yet again. And if that isn’t enough to convince you, this year Phonoelit is kicking it old skool with special guest CMOS! He entertained some of you at the first and the third ph-neutral. Hell yes !!1!

Doors open at 22:00 PM, party starts at 23:00. A big group of us will be heading over after the Soviet Unterzoegersdorf talk at 0:00. Rumor has it that certain dissidents will be in the audience, but security will be heavy in the event of any disturbance.

Foodhacking tickets still available!

Sun, 28 Dec 2008 15:55:05 +0000

On the evening of Day 3, please join us at the c-base for an evening of events to help support the “mothership” hackerspace in Berlin. We’ll have talks, a chill lounge, an auction of really cool stuff and a special dinner prepared by the foodhacking workshop that you can be a part of. The evening is a fundraiser party for c-base to pay down their legacy power debt- that’s why we’re calling the evening “Power to the People”. It will be a lot of delicious fun, hope to see you there!

As part of the evening’s festivities, you can learn all about foodhacking! Starting at 2 PM, you can help prepare the evening’s dinner with the foodhacking gurus. If you are interested in buying a ticket to help prepare food, help the c-base and learn about foodhacking, e-mail foodhacking@hackerspaces.org or stop in at the hackerspaces.org area on Ebene C (we’re right across from the Big Schauble banner) and ask for Astera.

We’ll provide more details and a reminder about the party at the c-base tomorrow!

Update on the 25C3-Ticket Situation II

Sun, 28 Dec 2008 13:45:08 +0000

As mentioned yesterday, the 4-Day-Tickets for the conference are sold out.

There are still day passes left. Those day-tickets are being sold every day beginning at 08:00am, and can’t be purchased in advance.

Lots of great photos from Day 1, don’t forget to post yours!

Sun, 28 Dec 2008 03:41:22 +0000

Day 1 is over, and there are a lot of awesome photos leaving very little of the 25C3 to hide. Here are a few prime examples. Don’t forget to post your photos with the tag “25C3”. Photos with Creative Commons licensing might be posted here! Thanks to MrTopf, nennett, revolvingdork, Angelol and Security4all.

An update on the ticket situation

Sat, 27 Dec 2008 21:39:44 +0000

The 25C3 twitter has been abuzz with questions regarding the ticket situation. We hope this post answers your most pressing concerns.

If you are traveling to the conference from outside of Europe you will get a ticket. We know many of you were affected by snowstorms in the Midwestern USA and we will be saving tickets for you.
If you are already en route to the Congress, we will have tickets available for you.
Otherwise, please do not travel to the Congress if you have not yet left.
Approximately 3,000 tickets for the entire conference have been sold. The exact number will be available on Day 4 during closing ceremonies.
Day tickets will be available, but in limited quantities. The cash desk will open at 08:00 and close at 02:00 (2 AM) every day. (This is for those of you who need tickets to the gym.)

Please leave a comment here or write an @25C3 response on Twitter with any other questions you may have and we will try to answer them in as timely a fashion as possible. For those of you here at the bcc with us, we hope you enjoy the most popular congress ever! As was said at the hackerspaces panel, be excellent to each other!