NSA Chief To Address Hackers At DEF CON 136
wiredmikey writes "Later this week, the NSA's organizational leader and head of the U.S. Cyber Command – General Keith Alexander — will address an audience of hackers at DEF CON. News of General Alexander's talk at Def Con broke on Friday. Up until that point, the 12:00 Track 1 slot was kept secret, leaving attendees to the world's largest hacker conference to speculate. The buzz was that it would be something interesting – if only because this year is Def Con's 20th anniversary. General Alexander will be giving a talk titled 'Shared Values, Shared Responsibility,' which is outlined as a presentation that will focus on the shared core values between the hacker community and the government's cyber community. Namely, the vision of the Internet as a positive force, the fact that information increases value by sharing, the respect and protection of privacy and civil liberties, and the opposition to malicious and criminal behavior."
Spot the Fed just got too easy. (Score:5, Interesting)
I presume that this guy won't count, or will this have the audience racing to be the first person to claim spotting him?
Gotta love newspeak, by the way. (Score:5, Interesting)
"malicious and criminal behavior" = "malicious and criminal behavior of the unapproved kind"
How about simply not showing up? Let that guy talk in front the plants he brought :P
Surely you could use that time for something better, like chatting, or bringing down the government.
Who's he kidding? (Score:5, Interesting)
The hacker community and USG cyber community share some core values: we both see the Internet as an immensely positive force; we both believe information increases in value by sharing; we both respect protection of privacy and civil liberties; we both believe in the need for oversight that fosters innovation, doesnâ(TM)t pick winners and losers, and retains freedom and flexibility; we both oppose malicious and criminal behavior. We should build on this common ground because we have a shared responsibility to secure cyberspace.
Since when does the NSA respect privacy?
From MINARET and SHAMROCK to ECHELON, Stellar Wind, and warrantless wiretapping, they've done nothing but disrespect privacy.
Shit. FISA was passed into law specifically because the NSA was spying on Americans.
And then Bush came along and did his best to piss all over the minimal protections provided by FISA [wikipedia.org]
And Congress helped by giving retroactive immunity to the Telecoms for illegally enabling the NSA's surveillance.
The Director of the NSA is in for a tough time if he's really going to claim that the NSA respects privacy.
Politics aside (Score:4, Interesting)
General Alexander is actually a funny guy. I was doing an installation run at Fort Meade a few years back. Turns out the General didn't leave his house early enough and he got stuck in his driveway while the entire base ran by. Since he had to wait for a few thousand people to run by, he made the best of it and did some road-side stand-up comedy for us. Mostly the General was satirizing himself and the rest of the Generals out there, by sarcastically complaining about us doing this run and not slaving away inside our cubicles.