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Undercover reporter Michelle Madigan (Associate Producer of NBCDateline) got a little more than she bargained for when she tried tosneak in to DEFCON 2007 with hidden cameras to get someone to confessto a felony. When DEFCON staff announced the “spot the undercoverreporter” game and told the audience that an undercover reporter wastaking video to catch someone confessing to a hacking crime, Madiganbolted from the conference premises followed by a pack of ~150 DEFCONattendees and reporters trying to photograph and video tape her. DEFCON officials never got the chance to bring Madigan on stage tooffer her a press badge so that she could cover the rest of the eventabove board.
ZDNet Blogs wrote:
DEFCON organizers caught wind of this from undisclosed sources andcasually contacted Madigan to see if she wanted official presscredentials and a press badge to cover DEFCON. Reporters in thepressroom were then fully briefed on the situation before the “spot theundercover reporter game” so that they could cover the event. According to Senior DEFCON official “Priest” who works for theGovernment in his day job, Madigan declined press credentials on fourseparate occasions (twice on phone and twice at DEFCON). Madiganproceeded to register as a regular DEFCON attendee and even told aDEFCON staffer that she was going to the bathroom to get her hiddencamera ready. When a DEFCON goon (staffer) explained to Madigan thatsecret video taping wasn’t allowed, Madigan not knowing she wasspeaking to a goon replied that she didn’t think it wasn’t a problem. The staffer then followed Madigan around and watched her as she pannedher hidden camera around the entire “Capture the flag” room to getunauthorized video of the members.
http://blogs.zdnet.com/Ou/?p=653
Madigan was apparently trying to do a shock piece for NBC Datelineto show middle America how criminal underground hackers had descendedon DEFCON Las Vegas to learn tricks of the trade and how Federal Agentswere tracking them down. When a DEFCON staffer spoke to Madigan posingas regular attendee, Madigan commented that people in Kansas (referenceto middle America) would be very interested in what was “really” goingon in DEFCON.
Quote:
DEFCON official “Priest” also had reason to believe thatthat Madigan was planning to out uncover federal agents attendingDEFCON and expressed some serious concern about the safety and privacyof those agents. Because of this, staffers used this to lure Madiganto the room where they planned to out her instead in front of DEFCONattendees in the “spot the undercover reporter” game but Madigan boltedfrom the scene before her photo was put up on the projector.
Quote:
The sad part of this story is that Madigan was given everyopportunity to get a press pass and get access to any of the speakersand attendees above board.
Even after the secret video taping she wasoffered a chance cover the rest of the conference with an officialpress badge.
She wanted topaint a picture that would shock “people in Kansas” about DEFCON andthat’s not what DEFCON is about. The Feds, Press, and hacker communityhave built up a level of mutual trust at DEFCON so that we have a placeto talk openly and honestly. After taking an unofficial poll in thepress room here, not one person appreciated Madigan’s antics. What do you think?
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