this time last year I was in the ball pit. More precisely: in the ball pit at the Chaos Communication Congress, and alone. However, it was not the traditional long-term relaxation pool for hackers with tired feet that I knew from the previous congresses of the Chaos Computer Club (CCC). It's a pixel ball pit in a very entertaining 2D computer world, assembled by volunteers and connected by a labyrinth of corridors, against which "Super Mario World" looked like a 100-meter run. Because the annual major event of the club was not intended to be a Chaos Corona Congress, it was simply relocated to the Internet.
There is no alternative to the fact that it will run like this again in 2021 - but that's no less a shame.
The remote version of the congress (called rC3) takes place this year under the motto »NOWHERE«.
It is up to you whether you want to recognize two words in it and, if so, which one.
I admit, I feel more like "nowhere" than "now here".
I miss hacker conferences.
As a rule, it is the best, most informative, funniest days of the year that my job brings with it, whether I go to Las Vegas or Leipzig for it.
Virtual worlds simply cannot replace the nerdy stage presentations and live competitions, the spectacular installations and spontaneous meetings with clever people, whose work I can otherwise only observe from a distance.
The 2D metaverse of the hacker community with its ball pit is guaranteed to be more creative than anything the company formerly known as Facebook could ever come up with.
But it can never be as energetic as an exhibition hall crammed with 15,000 good-humored people and an estimated 15 million flashing lights.
After all: there is also something to learn from the rC3.
There will be lectures and workshops on eleven channels, the streams and recordings will be available as usual on media.ccc.de free of charge and without registration.
My five tips:
"Catching NSO Group's Pegasus spyware" sounds exciting if you are interested in unfortunately ingenious surveillance software.
Katharin Tai, who is very much admired by me (who is currently doing her doctorate on Chinese Internet and foreign policy at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology) analyzes how falsely Western media report on supposed technology dystopias in Asia.
The "Mind-the-Tech" podcasters Isabelle Ewald and Catrin Schröder-Jaross organize a coffee trip on the Darknet.
If you want to know exactly how far apart the two planets digitization and Germany are, you are probably in good hands with Bianca Kastl.
She speaks from her own experience about »Digitization.
In a pandemic.
In the health department! "
Anke Domscheit-Berg promises »insights into the network policy sewing box of a member«.
GroKo supporters might prefer to listen away.
But if you prefer to just jump into the ball pit at the end of this nerve-wracking year, you need a ticket.
Unfortunately they are already sold out.
External links: three tips from other media
"What 10 million passwords reveal about the people who choose them" (English, ten minutes to read)
Does "12QWaszx" look like a sufficiently randomly compiled password to you?
It isn't, at least not on a US keyboard layout.
The patterns behind popular passwords and what password crackers are capable of can be found in this in-depth blog post.
"Probably the greatest game of Geoguessr I'll ever play" (video, English, 25 minutes)
Could you tell from a single image from Google Street View which place it is?
Tom Davies is very good at this, as the video shows.
There is also an article from "The Verge" that explains the rules of the game.
"The dumbest roar the loudest" (video, 7 minutes)
Constanze Kurz reads out the worst reader comments netzpolitik.org received in 2021.
The format could also be called "short and painful".
I wish you a peaceful end to the year,
Patrick Beuth
