Defcon drama: Undercover reporter bolts after outing
An NBC reporter learned the hard (and embarrassing) way that Defcon 15, a conference of underground hackers who also happen to be security experts, is not the place to go undercover with a hidden camera.
George Ou, who blogs for CNET News.com's sister site ZDNet, has written a detailed account of the drama that unfolded Friday at the Las Vegas conference when staff members announced the "spot the undercover reporter" game. Staffers had apparently learned that a Dateline NBC producer hoping to catch someone confessing to a hacking crime was there as a regular attendee after refusing repeatedly to seek a press pass.
Just as Defcon officials were about to put her photo up on the conference projector, the reporter bolted and a crowd followed her out to her car, taking video and shouting out questions and statements. (Check out the YouTube video embedded in Ou's blog). Our favorite comment, by far: "You must feel like Lindsay Lohan."
And we thought Black Hat was exciting.
Michelle Meyers is an associate editor who tracks online happenings in media, entertainment, and politics. E-mail Michelle. 
Dateline should also be taken to task for these methods, which they always lament when someone uses them against them, but don't when they are the ones using these methods.
She got kicked out, THE END. End of story.
What was the point in all that "drama"?
Now, if only we could lie to, steal from, and ignore the politicians like they do the people they supposedly represent, life would be perfect.
1. Most if not all the people at the conference were waaay over her head in terms of technical competence; and
2. Since it was a public forum, at which the press was invited,and I am assuming most of the people there were usually smart (one needs to have SOME brains to be technically very competent), the chances that she could videotape anyone "confessing" to an illegal activity is probably slim to none.
Finally, a reporter being in the right place at the right time with a camera, and capturing a story, is completely different from a reporter trying to "create" a story through false pretenses. She is slime, and deserves to lose her job. I am glad they humiliated her - they were too nice.
BTW, I am not a hacker, I am a 58 yr old grandmother, who is far from being a technology expert. :-)
A big "thank you" to CNET and other tech sites that give a good accounting of tech news. I guess broadcast journalism just doesn't want to be taken seriously any more.
Is the rise of blogging and other internet media really causing the broadcast networks to forget how to do what they used to do well? Maybe their time has passed, and what we're seeing now is just an industry-wide form of creeping senility...
enuogh...either that or they were so clever as to think that indeed
the breasts were a trojan for something more suspiscious than
what'd normally be around that kind of place!
Look at Dateline's website and the other stories they have covered. Their rhetorical question titles illustrate just how slanted they are. Why do people evn bother watching this cr*p?
reporting.." Tell me ONE paper or station thats "honest".
Almost all media outlets are slanted. I perfer another word, but
I'll hold back.
If you want to get programmers/techs attention at these fests
you better have a good utility/toy for them to drool over.
Classics are always welcomed for strolls down amnesia lane
(colored boxes!!!) suction cup modems for a few "classics" a lot
of us remember.
Also remember to bring along your stockade of caffine. Jolt or
caffinated water. Caffinated breath mints will also work.
the place is swarming with undercover cops
like internet relay chat is as well, stay clear
They do this sort of thing to people all the time. Well I guess it's different when their the ones getting hassled.
Love the paybacks!
- Top line:
- by martinintenerife August 6, 2007 7:00 PM PDT
- *sarcasm* Come back next year.
- Like this Reply to this comment
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(16 Comments)Classic!