Thread by @KirilsSolovjovs

It's been some time since a status update on #37c3. So here are the newest developments:
#37c3 is not happening this year.
We're looking at 2021 as a possibility.

#aufbauleaks

Large events will remain forbidden in Germany at least throughout the year 2020.
«Großveranstaltungen (..) bleiben bis mindestens Ende Dezember 2020 verboten.»

[DE] fr.de/politik/corona…

[EN] dw.com/en/germany-cor…

Do not despair.
There is a different event in the works for 26.12.-30.12.2020. — Remote Congress 2020!
#rc2020 will be the event of the year with more participants than ever substituting #37c3 which will likely happen in 2021 when things have hopefully more or less normalized.

Remote event means that everyone willing to so will be able to participate on their own hardware from their own home, hackerspace or the like. And I'm not just talking about the usual Congress Everywhere via the streams. #rc2020

We're likely going to see an immersive (80s/90s hacker-style immersive, non-3d, non-VR/AR) virtual world that should allow assemblies to showcase their LED-ridden gadgets and other cool project we've all been working on since #COVID19.

I foresee at least two major challenges to making #rc2020 as success:
1) distrust of major video-chat solution providers;
2) no way to prevent recording of video signals after broadcasting them online.

As nerds many of us have seen under the hood of what makes the technology tick. Some of us have been cursed enough to actually have worked at giants like @Facebook, @Google or other real-time communication companies with inclination towards data collection (hmmm... @tiktok_us ?)

So it's only natural that we are the group most acutely aware of the privacy implications. That means that Orga will have to do a lot of work to develop solutions that satisfy our very high bar for privacy.

I hope that some new tools that we can use post-#rc2020 come out of this. Even if we don't get any of those, we are gonna have some plug-ins or pull requests to open source projects at the very least.

The one really sad thing coming to mind so far is that we will not be able to have any truly private events that we want no recording of.
Yes, we can use elliptic crypto, OTR, key ratcheting and other fancy technology but none of that can prevent someone recording the stream.

It is actually a paradox in a sense. Hackers have been fighting against dumb #DRM technology for years by reverse engineering secure-by-obscurity algorithms, leaking HDCP & AACS keys... or using the analogue loophole.

Maybe now is the time we, the hackers, work together to try and solve the unsolvable and find a truly open solution that would allow to stream without being recorded. Though I personally find this unlikely bordering on the impossible.

Having all of #rc2020 online, including the smallest workshops, means
1) virtually unlimited space allowing to accommodate one or 1000 attendees depending on the demand;
2) more visibility for events that deserve it giving tradionally small or niche events the chance to grow big.

This would have been useful for many events like my network concepts intro workshop at #33c3 but for some this is not a welcome change.

Not many participants would consent to be recorded when drinking rakia with their buddies at workshop by the @BalCC0n assembly.

Then there are events that traditionally have a general no-photo policy like the workshops and gatherings by @kinky_geeks.
And some like There is no game, or Aufzugparty, soldering workshops may be impossible (very hard) to transfer to the virtual space.

I will of course miss the IRL-only talks with 0day drops but to be fair I think we haven't seen them for some years. Probably due to responsible disclosure process maturing which is a good thing.

You probably will want to make preparations after official announcement is posted on events.ccc.de by pre-ordering and shipping stuff (soldering irons, LEDs, webcams, relevant booze, etc.) to be able to fully enjoy the normally off-line event. Don't forget the merch! ;)

The ticket price has doubled since my first congress #27c3 so it's good news that the full ticket price is expected to be no more than 1/5 of that for #rc2020.

Note that I am just a humble angel with 10 Congresses behind my back. I am not part of Orga, nor has this thread been authorized by the @ccc.

The goal of this is to further the transparency declared in #37c3. events.ccc.de/2020/06/06/akt…

Digital #aufbauleaks for a digital event!