NBC reporter busted for trying to spy on DefCon conference

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Queasy

Queasy

Moderator<br>Console Gaming
Aug 24, 2001
31,796
2
0
SIAP - did a search and found nothing.

Link

The DefCon security conference is buzzing after an undercover NBC-Universal reporter fled the building after being publicly exposed for using a spy camera to film attendees.

DefCon organizer Jeff Moss called out Michelle Madigan, an Associate Producer for NBC-Universal, from stage during the "Tactical Exploitation" session.

"It came to our attention that a reporter might be here with a hidden pinhole camera," Moss told the crowd, which he said left two options. One was to let her corner some 13-year-old kid and get him to admit to hacking. The other was to escort her away.

Amidst clapping and jeering from the crowd, Madigan quickly left, followed by a good-sized crowd of reporters and attendees. And ironically, became the big story she had hoped to capture.

According to a senior security staff member who goes by the name Priest, a number of unnamed attendees tipped off conference staff about Michelle Madigan's plans to use a hidden camera at the conference. All of us press signed an agreement to not take photos or video without express permission, so using a hidden camera is a major rule-breaker.

"We knew from the moment she took off," Priest said.

Another Defcon 'goon,' or security person, who wants to stay anonymous says he asked Madigan if she wanted press credentials when she arrived, but she turned him down. He asked if she wanted to see the press rules and regulations, and she again said no. Amazingly, he says Madigan then said she had to go to the bathroom and put on a hidden camera.

Not the most adept attempt at going undercover. Her hidden camera was inside a black bag Madigan carried over her shoulder, the security person says. The bag is visible in the image above.

According to the security person, it was "painfully obvious that [Madigan] was panning her purse around the room."

Basically, Madigan badly screwed up here. She didn't only violate DefCon's clear rules - she crossed the line for journalistic ethics. She's got no sympathy here in the press room as I write this.

Ironically, the drama may bring to light some similarities between the hackers and the reporters here to cover them.

"Ten percent of you guys, just like ten percent of us, have given you all a bad name," says Priest. "The criminal element is a very small element of this community."
Click to expand...

YouTube of incident
 
D

daveymark

Lifer
Sep 15, 2003
10,573
1
0
from the youtube comment:

Hackers steal others people work, I have no respect for them. The fact that you got a bunch of em picking on one girl doesnt surprise me, they have mob mentality, one on one, they'd run.
 
D

daveymark

Lifer
Sep 15, 2003
10,573
1
0
Originally posted by: j00fek
they were going to let her in and give her a pass. why spy?

:confused:
Click to expand...

because she was going to pose as someone looking to hire a "hacker" for unethical/illegal reasons...e.g. "I need you to hack into microsoft"

wearing a press pass might give you away
 
Phokus

Phokus

Lifer
Nov 20, 1999
22,994
779
126
I read the purpose of her story was to scare people in 'middle america' (like Kansas) about the threat of Hackers. Why would these dumb yokels care about Hackers?
 
Queasy

Queasy

Moderator<br>Console Gaming
Aug 24, 2001
31,796
2
0
Originally posted by: Phokus
I read the purpose of her story was to scare people in 'middle america' (like Kansas) about the threat of Hackers. Why would these dumb yokels care about Hackers?
Click to expand...

This has been NBC's 'investigative' M.O. lately. Last year they were trying to dress people up as the most stereotypical looking Muslims possible and take them to a NASCAR race to try and provoke a reaction from NASCAR fans. It didn't work and NBC ended up having to back down and apologize.

They're trying to create news instead of report it.
 
FoBoT

FoBoT

No Lifer
Apr 30, 2001
63,084
15
81
fobot.com
Originally posted by: Queasy

They're trying to create news instead of report it.
Click to expand...

ding ding ding

my approach to this "problem" is to not watch that crap, the big "news" networks are crap
if you want reality TV, just watch cops or big brother, not the "network news"
 
waggy

waggy

No Lifer
Dec 14, 2000
68,143
10
81
Originally posted by: Queasy
Originally posted by: Phokus
I read the purpose of her story was to scare people in 'middle america' (like Kansas) about the threat of Hackers. Why would these dumb yokels care about Hackers?
Click to expand...

This has been NBC's 'investigative' M.O. lately. Last year they were trying to dress people up as the most stereotypical looking Muslims possible and take them to a NASCAR race to try and provoke a reaction from NASCAR fans. It didn't work and NBC ended up having to back down and apologize.

They're trying to create news instead of report it.
Click to expand...

sheesh. you got a link to that?

but you are right.

 
Queasy

Queasy

Moderator<br>Console Gaming
Aug 24, 2001
31,796
2
0
Originally posted by: waggy
Originally posted by: Queasy
Originally posted by: Phokus
I read the purpose of her story was to scare people in 'middle america' (like Kansas) about the threat of Hackers. Why would these dumb yokels care about Hackers?
Click to expand...

This has been NBC's 'investigative' M.O. lately. Last year they were trying to dress people up as the most stereotypical looking Muslims possible and take them to a NASCAR race to try and provoke a reaction from NASCAR fans. It didn't work and NBC ended up having to back down and apologize.

They're trying to create news instead of report it.
Click to expand...

sheesh. you got a link to that?

but you are right.
Click to expand...

I originally found out about it at Michelle Malkin's site. The link to the Cox & Forkum cartoon is classic.
 
Queasy

Queasy

Moderator<br>Console Gaming
Aug 24, 2001
31,796
2
0
More on how the reporter was caught

An undercover television reporter Friday fled from outraged computer hackers that caught her spying on their Las Vegas gathering with a camera hidden in her handbag.
Dateline NBC associate producer Michelle Madigan was heckled and derided as she ran from DefCon, the world's largest computer hackers conference, and raced away in a car.

"They sent a moderately attractive young lady with a purse cam whose mission was to first capture someone on film admitting to a felony, which is really not cool, and second to catch a fed on film," said DefCon spokesman "Priest."

"She was basically trying to do a slam piece."

Federal agents openly, and covertly, mingle with hackers at the conference, which features a panel discussion titled "Meet the Fed."

"This is the Switzerland of hacking, neutral ground on which hackers and feds meet with a common goal of making computers safer," said Priest.

Dateline did not respond to AFP requests for comment but issued a general statement saying it does not discuss reporting tactics.

DefCon organizers were alerted to Madigan's mission prior to her arrival and contacted her, offering her a press badge that would give her free rein of the conference while letting attendees easily see she is a reporter, Priest said.

Madigan declined the offer.

She opted to attend with a "Human" badge granting access to hackers and other general attendees.

Priest and DefCon founder Jeff Moss, whose hacker name is Dark Tangent, lured Madigan to a packed conference room by putting out word they were going to have hackers finger federal agents in a game called "spot the fed."

After she was in the audience, it was announced the game was actually "spot the undercover reporter."

Without naming Madigan, Moss condemned her stealth tactics from a stage. Boos and jeers erupted from hundreds of hackers, one calling for her to be tarred and feathered.

Madigan shoved aside a DefCon "goon," one of the volunteers working at the event, and dashed from the room as the mob called for her to be booted from the premises.

Madigan's flight was followed by hackers and reporting peers openly disapproving her methods.

"If I had 150 people from this place chasing me across the parking lot, I wouldn't be in a hurry to come back," Priest said.
Click to expand...
 
waggy

waggy

No Lifer
Dec 14, 2000
68,143
10
81
Originally posted by: Queasy
Originally posted by: waggy
Originally posted by: Queasy
Originally posted by: Phokus
I read the purpose of her story was to scare people in 'middle america' (like Kansas) about the threat of Hackers. Why would these dumb yokels care about Hackers?
Click to expand...

This has been NBC's 'investigative' M.O. lately. Last year they were trying to dress people up as the most stereotypical looking Muslims possible and take them to a NASCAR race to try and provoke a reaction from NASCAR fans. It didn't work and NBC ended up having to back down and apologize.

They're trying to create news instead of report it.
Click to expand...

sheesh. you got a link to that?

but you are right.
Click to expand...

I originally found out about it at Michelle Malkin's site. The link to the Cox & Forkum cartoon is classic.
Click to expand...


ok thats sick. I can't beleive they are allowed to use such tactics.
 
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