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Congratulations: 40 years Chaos Computer Club

40 years ago, the Chaos Computer Club was founded in Germany. Steffen Wernéry was there from the beginning. That’s why he’s already been in prison. Spectacular hacks, even into Nasa’s computers, made the Chaos Computer Club famous in the eighties.

It was seen as a Robin Hood-like hacker gang that is always a little smarter than the powerful and beats them with their own means: the computers . Steffen Wernéry joined shortly after its founding on 12 September 1981 and was at the forefront of the club’s transformation from a nerd regulars’ table to a well-known hacker club.

Today, the club claims to have 8,000 members and hosts one of the world’s largest hacker conventions. The basic philosophy has remained the same: The Chaos Computer Club wants to draw attention to the social consequences of technology and sees hacking as an instrument of enlightenment.

How does your history with the Chaos Computer Club begin?

Steffen Wernéry: It was in 1983 in the left-wing bookshop “Schwarzmarkt” in Hamburg. I had read online that the Chaos Computer Club was meeting there. I hoped to be able to exchange passwords there.

Swap passwords?

Steffen Wernéry: The internet didn’t exist back then, only individual computers on the telephone network. When you found other computers, you wanted to have a look at them. For example, into databases or via the computers of newspapers to the news of agencies in the USA. And the passwords were exchanged with each other.

And did you get any?

Steffen Wernéry: Unfortunately, no. I had to find out that no one from the Chaos Computer Club was online yet. Nevertheless, the visit changed my life. Because I met the founder of the club, Wau Holland. He talked about the computer not only being for the administration and surveillance of citizens. Citizens themselves should use it, for exchange and transparency. He wanted the machine-readable government instead of the machine-readable citizen. That made sense to me. From then on, I was in.

Merry Christmas! Joyeux Noël! Frohe Weihnachten!

Mit einem Zertifikat von CAcert hätte sich die Heilige Familie viel einfacher bei den Römern registrieren lassen können. Die beschwerliche Reise mit dem Esel wäre nicht nötig gewesen.

Gesegnete Weihnachten!


With a certificate from CAcert, it would have been much easier to register with the Romans to the Holy Family. The arduous journey with the donkey would not have been necessary.

Merry Christmas!


Avec un certificat de CAcert, la Sainte Famille serait en mesure de s’enregistrer auprès des Romains beaucoup plus facile. Le pénible voyage à dos d’âne n’aurait pas été nécessaire.

Joyeux Noël!

Learn from each other

Free and/or Open Source projects are about sharing and learning from others as well. An inspiring example is Lydias proposal of a Social Media Guide [1], giving an practical introduction. Have a look at it, read and learn about social media and get inspired for the benefit of CAcert and the Free and/or Open Source Community.

Download:
[1] http://www.lydiapintscher.de/whitepapers/Social_Media_Guide_For_Free_Software_Projects.pdf

1. Deutsches CAcert Assurer Treffen auf dem Linuxtag in Wiesbaden

auch dieses Jahr findet der Linuxtag statt. Dieses Jahr in Wiesbaden.
Wir nehmen diese Messeveranstaltung einmal zum Anlass um zum 1. Deutschen CAcert Assurer Treffen aufzurufen. Hier können sich CAcert Assurer austauschen, von Ihren Assurances berichten oder auch Fragen stellen und ggf. klären und zukünftige Assurances ggf. planen oder sich einfach näher kennenlernen.
Man trifft sich also am Samstag, den 6. Mai 2006 am CAcert Stand ab ca. 10Uhr. Näheres wird dann vorher hier noch bekannt gegeben.

Complete failure of Oracle security response and utter neglect of their responsibility to their customers

The following was posted to the bugtraq mailing list:

Dear security community and Oracle users,
Many of my customers run Oracle. Much of the U.K. Critical National Infrastructure relies on Oracle; indeed this is true for many other countries as well. I know that there’s a lot of private information about me stored in Oracle databases out there. I have good reason, like most of us, to be concerned about Oracle security; I want Oracle to be secure because, in a very real way, it helps maintain my own personal security. As such, I am writing this open letter.

Extract from interview between Mary Ann Davidson and IDG

IDGNS: “What other advice do you have for customers on security?”

Davidson: “Push your vendor to tell you how they build their software and ask them if they train people on secure coding practices. ”

Now some context has been put in place I can continue.
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