Not the only priest at DefCon

Clearly, I’m not the first priest to go to Def Con! Here’s a photo from Def Con 7 in 1999.

A Priest goes to Def Con

The folks from Hackers for Charity are talking about having a meet-up at Def Con 16. I’m making my plans to go and meet with Johnny Long and the gang from our AOET project. Just the other day, the list of Def Con speakers got published, and I’m excited for what’s on the menu (especially the EFF panel).

I’m planning to be up-front about my identity and wear a clerical collar for the event. Last year’s ejection of an NBC Dateline reporter is evidence enough to avoid anything discreet or undercover. I’ll probably be met with some resistance from people, but hopefully it can open up a conversation here and there.

As I’m preparing, I’m thinking of the questions I’ll be exploring during that visit and in my follow-up study time. Here’s a few:

People from the engineering disciplines appear often to be atheists or at least non-Christians. Is this in fact true? Why? Why are a spectrum of other educated professions represented in the Church but engineers relatively thin on the ground?

Why hack “for charity?” What values, ethics or morals are being put into action here? Are these principles traditionally found in Christianity or not? Where do these principles or values come from in a largely atheistic group?

Similarly, what about the sense of values, ethics or morals distinguish “white hat” and “black hat” hacking?

Why should Christians care about concerns of hackers, especially privacy and security? How can we mutually benefit from one another’s concerns? How might engineers serve the Church and how might the Church further some of these values and principles?

Hopefully in the next few months I can do some reading and preparation so that I might be ready to take advantage of two days in Las Vegas and have something to write as a result.

Legend of Zelda wedding cake

I had no idea that pictures had made it to the Internet, but check this out: The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Caker. What’s even better? I was there in person, back in April. So, I got to see the cake live. What’s even better than that? I was the priest at this wedding.

By the way, it was delicious.