4. Hackers?
• Aren’t those The Bad Guys™?
• Tech Model Railroad Club (TMRC) at MIT
• Hacking: programming and playing tricks
• Phone phreaks against Vietnam War (TAP)
• Birth of a politically motivated movement
• Hacker = concerned & technology-aware
5. Hacking is not a crime
• A crime needs criminals to take place
• Criminials pursue financial goals
• Criminals do not share knowledge
• Hackers pursue higher goals
• Hackers share knowledge
• Hackers are not criminals
6. Birth of the German
Hacker Movement
• 1968 events press society to change
• Depression by 1977 terror escalation
• Influence of technology is obvious
• TUWAT: “We have to do something”
• Calling for collaborative action
7. The Chaos
Computer Club
• Founded 1981 with “1984” in mind
• Chances and risks of technology for society
• Need to explain complicated things
• Using media to educate the public
• Hackers are concerned citizens and artists
• “Hacker Ethics” reflect principles of culture
8. Hacker Ethics
Access to computers should be unlimited and total
Always yield to the Hands-on Imperative!
All information should be free
Mistrust authority — promote decentralization
Hackers should be judged by their hacking...
You can create art and beauty on a computer.
Computers can change your life for the better.
11. Voting computers:
The new threat to democracy
• Elections must be free, secret and anonymous to
ensure separation of power
• Computer take over the role of paper ballots
• Vote is turned into a electronic signal field and
becomes invisible
• Election can no longer be understood by humans,
not even “experts”
• Recounts are no longer possible
12. The NEDAP Hack
• NEDAP: leading manufacturer in Europe
• 95% of dutch votes counted with NEDAP
• Dutch and german hackers joined forces
• PowerFraud silently changes results
• NEDAP: “But it is not a real computer!
If it were, you could play chess on it!”
15. The Aftermath
• NEDAP competitor got kicked out
immediately
• Government promised to start investigation
• Commission warned government to pursue
• All voting computers got banned in NL
• All voting computers got banned in D
16. The Pirate Party
• Born out of the net freedom and hacker
scene
• Founded in Sweden
• Huge success in Germany (so far)
• Transparency, Freedom, Liquid Democracy
17. Liquid Democracy
• Increase participation in representative
democracies
• Delegated Voting
• Make expertise a factor in decision-making
• Liquid Feedback
• Suitable for small and big organizations
19. ATTENTION!
This room is fullfilled mit special
electronische equippment. Fingergrabbing
and pressing the cnoeppkes from the
computers is allowed for die experts only!
So all the lefthanders stay away and do
not disturben the brainstorming von here
working intelligencies.
Otherwise you will be out thrown and
kicked anderswhere! Also: please keep
still and only watchen astonished the
blinkenlights.
21. Blinkenlights
• Interactive installation at Haus des Lehrers,
Berlin Alexanderplatz
• Spontaneous idea to celebrate the 20th
anniversary of the Chaos Computer Club
• Five weeks from idea to realization
• One week setup time
• Low cost & low tech
33. Blinkenlights Movies File
Format (BLM)
# BlinkenLights Movie 18x8
@800
000011100011100000
000111110111110000
001111111111111000
001111111111111000
000111111111110000
000011111111100000
000000111110000000
000000001000000000
@200
000000000000000000
000011100011100000
000111110111110000
000111111111110000
000011111111100000
000000111110000000
000000001000000000
000000000000000000
34. Blinkenlights Loveletters
• Person creates movie with BlinkenPaint
• Sends in movie in by e-mail
• Assignment of code number
• Code gets back to person by e-mail
• Loveletter invocation by phone
37. Arcade
• Interactive installation at
Bibliothèque nationale de
France, Paris
• Part of “Nuit Blanche”
• Next generation Blinkenlights
technology
• Greyscales and Plug-Ins
49. What did we learn?
• Inclusion is a good thing
• Participation unleashes untapped
participation
• Understanding the world around you is the
key to change
• Any system must constantly be evaluated and
questioned as stagnation means regression
51. Embrace the future
• PLAY: make up your ideas as you go along
• COLLABORATE: share knowledge with others
• TRUST: fear and false security have no future
