14 ms·
I followed the link, and while there is a video of someone getting dragged off stage, I can't really verify the other claims. But even so, dragging a presenter
by gavinhoward 2y ago
I followed the link, and while there is a video of someone getting dragged off stage, I can't really verify the other claims.
But even so, dragging a presenter off stage is sus. And doesn't seem smart because even if the other claims are not true, I'm tempted to never attend Defcon if that's what they do.
- dmitrygr 2y agoI can verify. I was the one dragged off. I wrote the firmware for the badge. All of it.
- rib3ye 2y agoCan you please explain the timeline of events here?
- dmitrygr 2y agoEdit: someone summarized it better: https://www.reddit.com/r/Defcon/comments/1eoe4u7/so_the_guy_who_wrote_the_badge_firmware_and/ https://www.reddit.com/r/Defcon/comments/1eoe4u7/so_the_guy_... Approx: Entropic is engaged to make hw. I am asked (unofficially) to do sw. Entropic works for free but does charge for parts and subcontracted stuff . Eventually defcon stops paying. Entropic is uninvited from badge talk. Their logo is ground out of plastic case. Their logo hidden in publicity photos of pcb. Tempers are high. I implement the Easter egg. This is months ago cause thats how long one needs to pre-flash chips. Time passed. Defcon still working on their game last moment. They had volunteers reflash badges cause they didn’t make the real pre flashing deadline. I forgot about the screen entirely more or less. Day of con. I spend all day helping debug badge issues. Push updates. Help people. Even pushed an update from plane on way to con to fix some things. Badge talk time. Half an hour before defcon tells me no talk for me cause someone found the Easter egg screen and they are pissed. I show up anyways since it was promised. I get dragged off stage. I hold talk outside answering questions. Next steps: I have no contact with defcon. They never bothered to. Normally: who cares? I get to talk, people get to play with badges. Nobody cares. But… I got kicked out, and… they have no license to my firmware they are distributing. Likely DMCA notice.
- dtx1 2y agoOne part of me wants you to DMCA the living daylight out of them. The other part is currently seeding torrents and thinks copyright is kinda dumb. Anyway, shitty thing to do by the defcon people.
- dmitrygr 2y agoI have been giving out licenses to the firmware to anybody who asks in the unofficial badge hacking discord. :) also my signature on the badge acts as a nontransferable license to the firmware in source and binary. i signed maybe a thousand today at my unofficial talk outside after i was dragged out.
- waihtis 2y agoWild, but not surprising. Heard a lot of bad stuff from the village heads some years ago already about DC organization.
- tamimio 2y agoAh, defcon drama! Old ones used to be much better anyway.
- loopdoend 2y agoThe ninja badges even had games you could play where you fight other users if I recall correctly. (Mid 2000’s?)
- jtriangle 2y agoWhen they stopped having first time presenters to do a shot of vodka before their talks I stopped caring. That was the end of real defcon.
- kstrauser 2y agoLast years I “had to” do a shot of Malört before stepping up to the podium. (“Had to” means a friend offered me one, laughed, and said “aw, c’mon”. I could’ve easily said no.)
- Y_Y 2y agohttps://old.reddit.com/r/Defcon/comments/1eoe4u7/so_the_guy_who_wrote_the_badge_firmware_and/lheaj3b/ https://old.reddit.com/r/Defcon/comments/1eoe4u7/so_the_guy_...
- soraminazuki 2y agoOof, Defcon organizers even SWATted him?
- brunoqc 2y agoCome on. Calling the cops is nothing like Sweating.
- soraminazuki 2y agoIt's SWATting when you try to pit the cops against innocent people.
- brunoqc 2y agoI don't think so. When people get SWATed, usually a fake call is made, were the police are told that a murder was already committed by the caller and that we will kill everyone on sight. Thus the police expect real danger, brings the big guns and their trigger happy attitude, kick the door in and are more likely to kill the victim. It's not SWATing if the police come to handle a disturbance. The SWAT team need to be deployed for a SWATing. Anyone could have called the cops too. A gathering of 100 people can make people nervous. But I wouldn't be surprised if Defcon called them too.
- junon 2y agoNo, it's not. Let's not dillute the term. SWATing someone is calling in a fake situation on a person that earns them a visit, specifically, from SWAT. Hostage situation, bomb threat, etc. are the usual means of doing so. Calling the police is not SWATing someone.
- rowanG077 2y ago
- gavinhoward 2y agoYeah, after some more digging, it does appear to be you. I do wish I had more context from the video, but at this point, it's getting hard to imagine any good reason for Defcon to do what they did. Assuming that you weren't threatening someone in the audience or something like that. Doubtful, from the way you've been talking. Anyway, it looks like good stuff. Wish I had some Game Boy games to try it.
- dmitrygr 2y agoI threatened nobody.
- gavinhoward 2y agoYeah, I hope it was clear that I don't think you did that.
- deleted 2y ago[deleted]
- iJohnDoe 2y agoWhy is it up to you to determine who is telling the truth? Why do you need to dig or investigate? Anyways, just seemed odd.
- irjustin 2y agoYou always trust what someone on the internet tells you?
- urbandw311er 2y agoI would counter that by asking why would any of us not want to dig or investigate claims and assertions made in 2024? It’s hugely important to approach life with a critical mindset these days, and something we should all be doing.
- deleted 2y ago
- gorgoiler 2y agoI’m sorry to hear this happened to you. One cannot lay even a finger on another person, ever, let alone jostle someone just because they don’t like what they are saying. It doesn’t matter if they are “security”. It’s assault and battery just the same as if I shove grandma out the way to get to the bus!
- justjonathan 2y agoI was at this talk, someone (you I guess) left at the beginning of this talk. To the audience it was not clear what happened,
- bingo-bongo 2y agoI think it’s so amazingly awesome that you just went outside and held an unofficial talk! Read your blog/article about the badge project yesterday and it was such a good read, even for a not-much-of-a-hardware-guy like me.
- patrickhogan1 2y agoNice work keeping the easter egg spirit alive. How would one trigger the easter egg?
- dmitrygr 2y agoFN button to open menu select "ABOUT" and press "A" to enter about screen Press "SELECT" button there despite that not being listed as a valid input.
- romwell 2y agoThis is Dmitry Grinberg[1] some of whose absolutely amazing projects (like, running Palm OS on other devices) have recently gotten some traction here on HN. (In particular, he managed to get Palm OS running on the badges in question). If there's one person whose credibility I wouldn't doubt on those matters, it's him. [1] https://dmitry.gr https://dmitry.gr