Bad rep for DEF CON?

NBC's Dateline may have gotten just what it wanted today when the organizers of DEF CON decided to "out" a reporter who had registered as a regular person, instead of as media for the annual hacker event in Las Vegas.

DEF CON organizer Jeff Moss (also known as Dark Tangent) climbed on stage in a packed room at the Riviera Hotel and Casino and announced to the crowd that an "undercover reporter" was among them. He stated that press is welcome at DEF CON, but needs to apply for special credentials and wear a different colored conference badge. "We like to know when we're speaking to the media," he said. (DEF CON does traditionally have strict media policies, such as not allowing reporters to film or take pictures at free will.)

Moss/Dark Tangent then proceeded to announce a new DEF CON contest: "Spot the undercover reporter." The crowd roared. He asked what should happen to the reporter if she was spotted, should she be ejected from the event? The crowd roared "Yes!"

What happened then shocked me. Moss pinpointed the reporter, an associate producer at Dateline NBC who was in the room. She was subsequently chased out of the room, out of the hotel, all the way to her car and off the Riviera property by about 150 overheated DEF CON attendees and the properly-badged media contingent at the show. (Okay, maybe she decided to leave the room herself first and was subsequently followed by a running mob, but what would you do if a large hall full of people had just roared for your removal?)

So, what did the hidden NBC cameras capture (if there were in fact any) and what did their reporter experience? They captured a large crowd of "hackers" in a dark room and most of them in dark clothing. These all roared to protect their elite club from the prying eyes of a reporter who doesn't want to be identified as such. Also, they showed the crowd will go through extremes to call out the reporter and chase her down to the parking lot and off the terrain. Quite a scary scene.

That's one great image for DEF CON and the security community at large. If the community and DEF CON had gone a bit mainstream in the past years and shown their softer side, now Dateline has the imagery to show the group as everything but welcoming. Maybe hackers are indeed a scary bunch of people with a lack of social skills? (That's at least what the NBC video could show.)

Analyzing this situation with my new PR hat on, this could ultimately be bad for DEF CON and the hacker community in terms of perception and public relations. Unless the folks at DEF CON planned it that way to show that the organization is still as bad-ass as it was reputed to be years ago--they turned this into a media stunt by inviting all attending, properly-registered journalists to come to the ejection ceremony.

We'll have to see if NBC decides to go that route.