The days will feature seminars on life and politics in the electronic age. “Networking for the Masses” promises a political philosophy that might have come from Karl Marx had he worked weekends at a Radio Shack. Other seminars, “Phreaking the Phone” or “Zen and the Art of Lockpicking,” hint at the underbelly of the hacking culture. Still, if these conventioneers can overcome fears of viruses both computer–and bloodborne, they may have something to rival the original. English will be the language at the affair, though the crowd will probably represent the diverse, youthful community that has flowered on the world’s growing fiber-optic vines. There’s no guarantee of a large turnout, but if thousands show up, it may help demonstrate just how far hacking has moved out of the bedrooms of smelly adolescents. If so, there’s likely to be less geeking and more dancing in the Dutch summer night. Programmers may one day be able to lean back from their terminals, pat their pocket protectors and say, “I was there.”
