Dateline Mole Caught at DefCon with Hidden Camera

Dateline Mole Caught at DefCon with Hidden Camera

blog.wired.com

DefCon security on Friday warned attendees at the annual hacker conference that Dateline NBC may have sent a mole with a hidden camera to the event to capture hackers admitting to crimes. DefCon says it was tipped off by their own mole at Dateline who sent them a pic of the undercover journalist who DefCon employees identified as producer Michelle Madigan.

DefCon, an annual underground hacking convention in Las Vegas, has a strict policy against filming conference attendees --

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[edit on 4-8-2007 by UM_Gazz]

I thought this was great, this lady from dateline probably thought she was gonna be able to entrap hundreds of hackers attending defcon and "expose" them for all to see on dateline. so much for real journalism. its great how they turned the table on her and sent her running out. im glad she got caught because whatever story she would of came up with would only benefit the government for they're regulation of the internet. if i were michelle madigan i would keep my computer offline for a while.

blog.wired.com
(visit the link for the full news article)

How dumb is this broad...she actually thought she could out wit and out sneak an entire convention of people who's entire lives are devoted to out sneaking, out thinking and exposing security threats.....lol

As they would say PWNED!

FOUND THE VIDEO OF THEM OUTING HER!!!!

Video of Defcon outing reporter

very unwise... with her identity being revealed to the hacking community her PC has probably exploded already due to overheating from cpu malfunction haha! nonetheless... it was her own fault and as long as hackers don't harm private persons instead of government / agencies i don't have any problem with them and their 'activities' - the internet is intended to be a free place and if there is need to disclose government cover-ups (for example) hackers should really become 'tools of legal disclosure for a good purpose'... imo!

Where's my F*** Dateline shirt? I know it's around here somewhere. It's not censored however. Wonderful conversation starter.

"To Catch a Reporter!"

Awesome.

Originally posted by apc
"To Catch a Reporter!"

Awesome.

lol, exactly.

This is freakin awesome. Looks like Dateline underestimated the skills and ability of the Defcon community. Most people don't understand "hacking" process or motivation. It's not about destruction or theft, except by a few in the Black Hat community. Hacking is more about getting your IPod to run Linux or hacking up some open source code to make it do what you want. Above all else it's a community that supports internet freedom and the freedom of information.

If it wasn't for hackers we would never have the internet or the web, Dateline just wanted to exploit these people for their own means. The media likes to vilify "hackers" because most people don't understand computers and it makes an easy target.

I'm sure that Dateline will now try to get a big thing going on about 'This is so secret' and 'If they kicked us out, then they must be working for terrorists'

Because remember, If Dateline doesn't get what they want, Terrorists Win.

I am glad the males at that conference think about more than there genitals(i.e being genital heads, if you know what i mean).

They should do a piece on here and send to foxnews.

[edit on 8/4/2007 by andy1033]

There is a 2 page document of agreement that all press has to review and sign before getting a press badge for DefCon events. She failed to do so and was asked to leave with no harm taken against her. That is a very important fact since she was not put in danger but she was followed to her car, that should have made her feel like the very same people she would report on. It's funny how she got a taste of her own medicine.

She got busted and I wish for this to be a wake up call for those who wish to do the same for any convention that has press regulations. The reason for the people to gather was legal, but the act of the reporter wasn't. I hope the focus stays on her actions and not those of the innocent people inside. There is Due Process in this country and nobody inside is a criminal until proven in a court of law. If you don't like that you need to move to another country where freedom isn't allowed. Great thread and I wish more of these were around to show how some will break the rules just to make headlines.

*sees the word "lulz" on the video description*

Ah. It all makes sense now. >_>

Hilarious.

My (benign*) Hacker Hubby is going to laugh himself silly when he sees this.

(*to clarify - he hacks machines, not people or sites.)

Where is Chris Hansen when you need him?

Good Dateline can have a taste of their own medicine!!!!! Not cool.

Twisted folks have to be taken off the streets, but DATELINE NBC to me, is just nothing but entrapment and i'm glad this happened and i'll also be glad when that "show" is off the air.

Leave the entrapment to cops and agents.

I have little respect for entrapment. And somebody ought to keep an eye on Chris Hansen, the perv.

The whole show makes me sick.

Justice was served! enjoyed that immensely.

It certainly is refreshing to see that Dateliine isn't wasting time on stories that can make a difference to in the world we live in. LOL! Chris Hanson seems to enjoy those stories about internet chatroom hookuos a little too much. Makes one wonder.

Ha ha, classic ownage for someone that most definately deserved it.

Originally posted by dgtempe
Twisted folks have to be taken off the streets, but DATELINE NBC to me, is just nothing but entrapment and i'm glad this happened and i'll also be glad when that "show" is off the air.

Leave the entrapment to cops and agents.

I have little respect for entrapment.

And somebody ought to keep an eye on Chris Hansen, the perv.

The whole show makes me sick.

Um, Defcon isn't "twisted" people.. It's basically a group of high level geeks. I know plenty of people who would be completely at home there, who would never do "Illegal" hacking.. There's a massive difference between hacking and cracking that the average person just doesn't get, because all you see is the negative media driven stories about viruses and worms, which most self respecting hackers wouldn't touch in a million years. Entrapment? Defcon isn't illegal, it's a respected convention that's been going on for quite some time now.

But yeah, trying to outsneak people who in most cases are high level security operatives for a living? Not gonna happen.

Funny vid. I think they let her off way too easy. They should have played a little game with her and her employees. They should have called up Dateline and told them that they were holding her for ransom. I wonder how much they would have paid for her release, since she wasn't very smart obviously.