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kkaske 10 hours ago

I'm old enough to remember all the "Free Kevin" gifs scattered around the internet.

This helps to fill in some of the details. It's a really nice story showing the humanity that can be found in situations when you look close.

kstrauser 6 hours ago | parent | next [-]

At DEF CON and related events now, you commonly see stickers saying "PUT KEVIN BACK".

sudo_cowsay 6 hours ago | parent | next [-]

Well, he has passed so I don't know if that sticker is relevant anymore.

kstrauser 6 hours ago | parent [-]

It's probably not, but still usefully signals particular mindsets to others who might share them.

sudo_cowsay 5 hours ago | parent [-]

ok

devmor 3 hours ago | parent | prev [-]

From what I can tell, defcon is largely law enforcement and companies that sell to them these days, so I'm not surprised at all to hear that.

kstrauser 3 hours ago | parent [-]

I keep hearing that cynical, and wrong, dismissal but have zero idea where it comes from. Yes, there are cops. Some .govs even have booths in the info areas. The stated idea is that it's a good thing when cops and hackers can hang out and discuss ideas and opinions outside of interrogation rooms, and I agree with that.

That's miles away from "largely law enforcement" though. I talked to an FBI agent at PyCon but people aren't claiming it's a LEO convention.

mindcrime 5 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-]

Call me nostalgic or whatever, but my laptop to this very day...

https://fogbeam.com/free-kevin.jpg

firefax 6 hours ago | parent | prev [-]

>I'm old enough to remember all the "Free Kevin" gifs scattered around the internet.

A generation of hackers (specifically, the vBulletin generation) stayed as far away from the CFAA as possible after that fiasco, which I suspect is exactly the chilling effect that the DOJ intended.