We are, as usual, expecting a really big run for entry tickets on the morning of the 27th – you had to wait about an hour last year. However, the ticket counter will open already on 26th in the evening. It is scheduled to open at 20:00, probably earlier. So if you are already in Berlin, please buy your ticket on the 26th in the evening. It will be a lot easier and faster for you and us – and will save you a lot of time standing in some cold ugly weather condition.

Everything else right now seems to work out quite smooth, no bigger fuckups, internet connectivity is already running. Oh, and just …

Sometimes, while hacking, suddenly questions pop up:

What happens if I 0wn that box now?
Is it ethically justifiable to do this or that?
How much stress will happen if things go wrong?
What is the most efficient way to handle an interesting piece of information?
The Hacker Ethics Hotline offers fast and anonymous counseling on this and related topics.
Simply dial 1042 on the DECT phone next to you and make an appointment (real life, chat or phone). The Hacker Ethics Hotline is run by FX of Phenoelit, Ron, 46halbe and Frank Rieger.

[basic info]
The POC will provide the telephone system (Alcatel OmniPCX 4400) combined with an asterisk system for VoIP which is fully integrated into the PBX System.

Additionally the POC will also provide cable bound phones
which will be connected via the structured cabling system of the BCC.

Everybody can bring his own DECT/GAP compatible phone, which will be registered into the system.

[payoff] “a cellphone is so much more useful – why bring a DECT phone, too?”

you should bring a DECT phone for the following four reasons:

1. you can talk to other DECT phone users locally at the congress for …

Today was the “kickoff” day at the bcc, our very first day getting everything set up for the congress in the building. As every year, it was mostly a delivery day. Shirts, the proceedings and a lot of other stuff we need for the organization arrived – all the stuff we need quite early in our congress setup.

Most of the hardware used for the congress network is already in the building, huge stacks full of switches and routers were delivered today. Quite a lot of …

Lightning Talks give you up to ten short talks each day – between 4pm and 5pm.
Each talk is limited to five minutes.

Usually the topic is some cool program
or project – but it can also be a good rant.
So this year’s motto is “The good *and* the bad”.

You can still add your own praise or rant
by adding it to the page within the wiki.
Enter the title, language (DE/EN),
your name, contact address, and a short description.

But whatever the topic – dive right in, and make it count!
One “word” of introduction should suffice, and then
give us as many info as you can within four minutes;
when your …

The congress fahrplan is nearing completion, and we’re starting to plan the details. One important part of this is finding Heralds: volunteers who for a couple of hours are willing to be the main spokesperson in a conference room, who announce the individual sessions, and help out when something goes wrong.

Photo by smallcaps.

This year we would like to have a Herald for every single talk, not just the big ones in Saal 1. That’s quite an ambitious goal (our Herald schedule is comprised of 44 shifts), …

If you have a DVB-T receiver for your computer don’t forget to bring it to 23C3 as we are about to broadcast locally all for lecture rooms via DVB-T this time. This is an experiment and is considered to be an additional way of broadcasting the lectures (we try to provide public TVs and IP Streaming).

We still have problems getting enough TV Sets for 23C3. If you have the option to borrow some sets or know of a source where we could lend 10 to 15 sets, [please let us know][3].

[3]: mailto:23c3-orga at cccv.de

antenna has been working at the 23C3 design for months now and we are happy to present you some results of her work.

Please use the banners to link to this weblog or the official 23C3 website so other people get to know the congress. And the wallpapers are a constant reminder to you that soon there will be the 23C3. We hope you look forward to it as excited as we we do.

Professional members of the fourth estate who wish to cover the 23rd Chaos Communication Congress will have to apply for accreditation in advance, as every year. How can you get this accreditation?

If you would like to apply to our press list, please submit your name, your contact information, the name of your affiliated news source, and a scan of your media identification or press pass to 23c3-press at cccv.de. Additionally, we would like to know which topics you plan to cover. If you are a freelancer or a member of public interest groups, send us a short list of your recent articles.

Join us …

We just published Fahrplan version 0.3. There are some minor changes due to special wishes of speakers. But the main difference are the workshops which are now visible in the Fahrplan. Have a look.

Nobody likes bans and regulations. Some people smoke at the Congress, some don’t. Almost all people hate the smell of cold smoke everywhere after four days at the Congress. So here we are again, asking you to understand and trying to make things acceptable for dislikers of bans and regulations, like ourselves. Here’s what we wrote last year:

Quite an issue last year. Smoking situation was so bad that even heavy smokers complained about the bad air. Of course, smoking is forbidden in the art&beauty-area, the lecture halls and in the Hackcenter, as it was last year.

But for the rings …

Blog TV in Japan shows an Interview with German mobile entrepreneur Jan Michael Hess. After some minutes of talking about mobile economy, they mention an event that captures the interest of the Japanese hosts: A hacker conference in Europe. They even learn something important: “Hackers are good people”. Watch it yourself (the interview is partly in English):

Blog TV has a page (in Japanese) that offers additional information. A nice piece that shows people are actually interested in the stuff we do in corners of the world where you wouldn’t expect it. Domo arigato!