DEFCON 2006 Las Vegas

One of my coworkers is out of the office today and tomorrow. He told me he's going to DEFCON in Las Vegas, so today, after I went to his office to talk to him and saw that he was gone and remembered where he was, I looked it up online.

Here's the website. It's a convention for "hackers," which looks like a broad definition for actual hackers and serious techno-geeks.

I really liked their statement of fee and payment methods for what it says about their attendees:

Admission is $100 Cash at the door.

Their FAQ page is also a delight. A few selections:

What are the rules of DEFCON?
Physical violence is prohibited. We don't support illegal drug use. Minors should be accompanied by their parent(s) or guardian(s). Please refrain from doing anything that might jeopardize the conference or attendees such as lighting your hair on fire or throwing lit road flares in elevators. DEFCON Goons are there to answer your questions and keep everything moving. Hotel security is there to watch over their property. Each has a different mission, and it is wise to not anger the hotel people. Please be aware that if you engage in illegal activities there is a large contingency of feds that attend DEFCON. Talking about how you are going to bomb the RNC convention in front of an FBI agent is a Career Limiting Move!

Is DEFCON canceled?
No.

What is there to do at DEFCON?
DEFCON is a unique experience for each con-goer. If you google around you'll find dozens of write-ups that will give you an idea of what people have experienced at DEFCON. Trust write-ups more than media articles about the con. Some people play capture the flag 24x7, while many people never touch a computer at DEFCON. Some people see every speech they can, while others miss all speeches. Other activities include coffee wars, WI-FI shoot outs, robot contests, TCP/IP contests, movie marathons, scavenger hunts, sleep deprivation, lock picking, warez trading, drunken parties, spot the fed contest, charity dunk tanks, the Black and White Ball. Because DEFCON is what the attendees make of it, there are more events than even we are aware of. Half the fun is learning what happened at DEFCON after the fact!

There are whole worlds out there that I've never been aware of, and this is one of them. As I find other strange new worlds, I'll let you know.

In the meantime, if you're in Las Vegas this weekend and accidentally made reservations at or near the Riviera Hotel, you might want to barricade your door. One of the attendees might try to pick the lock to your room.