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HACKMEETING

Storia

Translations: it es

The history of HackMeeting

  • 1998 - Firenze - CPA Firenze Sud (website)

The first hackmeeting is organized at the CPA in Firenze. Strano Network, Avana BBS, Ecn, Freaknet, Decoder, Metro Olografix, and the Cybernet decide to hold a meeting because four years earlier there had been a first crackdown on Italian hackers. The problem was that the media were beginning to notice the digital phenomenon and identified attempts to understand the logic of new technologies as “criminal” behavior. The hacker community, on the other hand, wanted to emphasize that the computer was a mass tool, domestic and not just technical-university or military, for control or marketing. The information that passed through that network of PCs had to be free. Radio Cybernet streamed the seminars on the web, the first Italian web radio. Since then, the radio has been there practically every year. The three days in Florence were when the current hackmeeting system was born. The message was: let’s get out of the digital world and bring technical issues and opportunities for direct communication into the real world and within everyone’s reach; we’ll tell you ourselves, without any mediation (“don’t hate the media, become the media” would be joined a few years later by “information wants to be free”). That year, for example, Kryptonite was published, a book that collected how-to guides on specific tools related to privacy and anonymity (anonymous remailer, gpg, packet radio). The informative intent of the hackmeeting is clear. The entire most representative scene of the Italian underground participates in the hackmeeting. The first generation of hackers who identify with the term, not in the sense most commonly attributed by the media. Technical tools: Linux courses for beginners and workshops on the accessibility of technologies and websites.

  • 1999 - Milan - Deposito Bulk (website)

It was collectively decided to move beyond the three-day format and create spaces throughout the year, giving rise to hacklabs where people could meet, have a workshop, share their work, and disseminate ideas. A prominent guest was Wau Holland, a libertarian hacker and co-founder of the Chaos Computer Club, who arrived in Italy in spectacular fashion without an identity card. International connections were made known to the Italian community. Technical tools: we remember the seminar on attacking communication protocols (ip icmp tcp udp + services), to understand/explain a little better how network protocols work and therefore where and why they are vulnerable. Another theme that would become recurrent in hackmeetings.

  • 2000 - Roma - Forte Prenestino (website)

Headquarters of Avana BBS, the first hackmeeting organized with hacklabs, which have now become a reality. Jaromil introduces asciicam, building relationships in other areas such as net art, the artistic, playful, and critical aspect of hacking. It is also a hackmeeting dedicated to online rights, social cooperation, and online accessibility. There are many seminars on ethics and the web.

  • 2001 - Catania - Freaknet media lab (website)

A special place, given that it was created before hacklabs and was already open to the public with weather reports for fishermen via the internet and Arabic keyboards for immigrants. It is the strongest hackmeeting in terms of the number of hours spent on code. The autistici.org/inventati.org project is presented as a self-managed server alongside ecn. Bolic1 is also presented, which will later become Dynebolic (the media hacktivist tool). Freaknet proposes that the scientific university of Catania adopt free software as its basic software, and at the hackmeeting it is proposed to extend this to other cities. Those who would later create the G8 media center also attended this meeting. Tools and people were proposed that would later come together to create media such as Indymedia. People began to talk about income and work in the net economy. Technical tools: a seminar was held on reverse engineering, i.e., modifying the behavior of a program without knowing the source code.

A worldly Hackmeeting. The word “media activism” has emerged and spread, Indymedia is an established media outlet, NGvision represents a substantial web video archive, there are telestreets, Hackmeetings are no longer just for hackers but for media activism, and it is no coincidence that women are appearing. Richard Stallman attends. Technical tools: Retrocomputing, or the passion for hardware recovery, is presented. Technical tools: retrocomputing, or the passion for hardware recovery, is presented.

The legendary acrobatic ironing seminar is held and the issue of gender/technology is raised by Sexy Shock from Bologna, a collective of women, emphasizing that there are gender issues even among hackers and that it would be appropriate to address them. The classrooms are given names from the history of anarchism. Technical tools: Honeypots and web security are among the topics covered. Wireless is widespread.

  • 2004 - Genova - Buridda (website)

The scope broadens further, with seminars on robotics, but also on prostitution. And above all, starting with Reload in Milan, the concept of reality hacking is launched, hacking everyday life and politics, asking hacklabs to move beyond the narrow confines of nerd culture and enter the broader realm of political action. Technical tools: Bluetooth security was one of the seminars.

  • 2005 - Napoli - TerraTerra (website)

Open non è free (Open is not free), the second book to come out of the hackmeeting community, was presented. As the concepts of open source and free software begin to circulate in society, the community feels the need to emphasize the importance of approaching these issues critically, even though they have now been absorbed by the market. Technical tools: introduction to Phreaking, or how to make free phone calls, from Captain Crunch’s whistle to vOIP.

  • 2006 - Parma - Collettivo Mario Lupo (website)

Hacklabs are no longer the main organizational element, but there is a more community-based perception that allows for the occupation of a space for the duration of the hackmeeting. The occupation takes place at an ambiguous time, marked by evictions in the Parma area, and takes the political form of a TAZ, even though there was hope of doing much more (keeping the place, which will eventually be evicted). Within the scope of the seminars, the application of hack philosophy in various fields is further expanded, for example, serpicanaro and the open license for material production, piercing a system that is not only computer-based but real and market-based. The darkside of Google is presented, another book written by people from the community on aspects of Google that were still (at the time) little known. Technical tools: Semantic Web and computer ontologies; Copyleft and fightsharing are discussed.

Compared to the previous year, the event regained its international profile with the arrival of Emmanuel Goldstein, part of the historic American phreaker and media hacktivist scene. Andy Muller Maghun, a member of the CCC, began by saying, “The CCC was born as a political project,” a sign of how, since 1982, Europe had considered the political potential of hacking as a concept. Armin Medosh gave a historical reconstruction of technological evolution from a Marxist perspective. Seminars appeared that imposed a collective ecological awareness: the “hack the bread” seminar was held, which brought the emphasis back to political practices at a personal level. The “capanne dei suchi” space was introduced, a space different from the workshop, for free discussion and collaborative work. Technical tools: methods of compromising anonymity, how to defend oneself. VoIP security, the need for attention also on VoIP. IPSec, mechanisms to protect against attacks based on statistical traffic analysis (website fingerprinting, etc.).

  • 2008 - Palermo - AsK 191 (website)

An important Hackmeeting for the location, the meeting with the people from Ask produced a very strong moment of shared self-management. It confirmed a strong community spirit, though not very open because there was no response from the Palermo public. The ecological footprint continues, with talk of compost, waste, solar energy, and radio waves. Sharing not exploiting: Prosumer vs. Corporation, reflection on social networks and web 2.0, economic returns of corporations. From an imaginative point of view, there was a workshop on steampunk, the post-cyberpunk era. Technical tools: Semantic web, as an approach to web 3.0

Once again, Hackmeeting supports a self-managed project in difficulty. The setting is Rho, a suburb of Milan devastated by Expo speculation, a huge empty warehouse occupied for a few days. There is talk of fear, of the creation of fear, of how to escape this social model of frightened people who eye each other with suspicion. The icon of Hackit is the babau, the villain of fairy tales. Interest in the issue of precariousness and the resulting lifestyles becomes a stable theme. The practice of warm-ups is inaugurated, seminars that introduce the main event in the weeks leading up to it, both in the host city and in the rest of Italy. The practice of warm-ups is inaugurated, seminars that introduce the main event in the weeks leading up to it, both in the host city and in the rest of Italy. In terms of imagery, there is talk of science fiction, retrocomputing and restoration, and mobile phone video games. Technical tools: giss audio/video streaming, sniffjoke, GSM networks, mesh networks.

Hackmeeting among the olive trees in the Roman heat, everyone in tents, recovering from the Milanese hinterland of the previous year. We talk about control, how much of it surrounds us, what tools it uses. Environmental issues return to the forefront with a seminar on wind turbines, the presentation of the self-build network, and a seminar on urban gardens. In the launch space, there are more and more Arduinos and a radio-controlled helicopter model. Hackit’s guest is Margaret Killjoy, a funny character from Steampunk Magazine, a self-produced American magazine, presented together with Ruggine, a self-produced Italian magazine of stories and drawings. The seminar on pr0n, a mysterious and intriguing extension of Firefox, is very crowded. Technical tools: ipv6 and mesh networks, opencv, arduino.

  • 2011 - Firenze - csa nExt Emerson (website)

The theme of this edition was the apocalypse. From the clouds of nuclear disasters to the clouds of cloud computing: when technology and knowledge are centralized for economic and political interests and in contrast with individual and collective aspirations for autonomy, they inevitably lead to… the apocalypse.

  • 2012 - L’Aquila - Asilo Occupato (website)

A significant presence in a city like L’Aquila, which no longer resembles a city. Hack the town! If it is no longer possible to repair the damage, to make sense of what has been destroyed, Hackmeeting tries to understand if it is possible to make it work in another way, starting from the reconstruction of the social and relational fabrics, of the vital connections of the city.

  • 2013 - Cosenza - Ex-Officine (website)

It was held in the occupied area of the former Ferrovie della Calabria workshops and focused on the theme of “the curse of control.” The idea behind Hackmeeting 2013 was to stimulate a new popular wisdom 2.0 to counter the adverse forces that threaten freedom of expression and sharing on the internet. As if on cue, amid bad luck and superstitions, Snowden’s first revelations came out during the days of this hackmeeting. The activity of those who control movements on the internet, for business or for control, is the key theme, but the topics covered were many: from privacy to communication technologies, from counter-sexuality to investigative reports on spyware used by governments and others. Also noteworthy is the media trolling experiment that brought Hackmeeting to the pages of the most important national newspapers through an amusing and totally unfounded “scoop.”

Xm24 hosts the last three days of a hackmeeting that lasted much longer: the complex city warm-up process, coordinated by Hacklabbo but involving the participation of many groups, both antagonistic and non-antagonistic, leads to a particularly well-attended edition.

Thanks to Xm24’s long history of media activism, the visibility and university character of Bologna, and the network of communities that intertwine in the hackmeeting list, an event comes to life that demonstrates to its own community how the scene is far from dead, but rather particularly attentive and active. During the three days, the necessity and centrality of a grassroots event is strongly reaffirmed not only by the participation of the historic community, but also by the assemblies of communities across hackmeeting (e.g., the Italian WCN), the appearance of many new faces, and the many highly topical talks (e.g., Citizen Lab with its work on digital surveillance). .

PS: the logo is an undead, not a gorilla, not a stoner ;)

  • 2015 - Napoli - Mensa Occupata (website)

After ten years, Hackmeeting returns to Naples and takes back the city center.

The central location of the Occupied Canteen favors the development of a hackmeeting that is not exclusively technical and very informative. With less than two months to go before May 1 and the protests against Expo, reflection on the more political and militant side of hacking is essential: neuro-digital self-defense techniques, study of legislation on wiretapping, Tor, encryption, and digital resistance. Many new people have joined the community, and this becomes an opportunity to reinvent itself. It turns out that fried foods promote concentration.

  • 2016 - Pisa - Polo Fibonacci (website)

Polo Fibonacci, the hackmeeting takes place in Pisa on June 3-5 and occupies a university campus, filling it with games, parties, workshops, and debates. To talk about To talk about technology, privacy, security, but also differences, gender, and greater inclusion within the hackmeeting.

Malware is analyzed, quantum cryptography is discussed, and we find ourselves playing retro games at 3 a.m. between punk music and beer that has been finished for a while.

The bathrooms, which are not divided by gender, are named after editors: VIM, NANO, or EMACS, while some international faces don’t answer emails and write pieces of Python in the middle of the LAN Space while others try to install Linux for the first time.

The focus shifts considerably to malware, also known as computer captors. We try to analyze them and watch the Hacking Team demo, then Ippolita presents Anime Elettriche and in the evening some propose games on understanding consent, round tables on gender discussions and attempts to improve the community Then suddenly it’s Sunday and there are hugs and kisses, the next hackit is entrusted to the people of Turin, see you in Val Susa.

  • 2017 - Venaus, Val di Susa - Borgata 8 Dicembre and Permanent Presidium (website)

It is the twentieth hackmeeting and to celebrate the occasion, we decide to hold it in a different place. The idea is circulated on the list, everyone likes it immediately, and so we set off. We learn how to weld, make vegetable stock, build an antenna, and make cheese from goat’s milk. We talk about digital security, anonymity, quantum physics, cyber espionage, Pokemon, control, radio, and mesh networks. We mingle with the Valsusini resistance, we infect each other, we exchange stories, experiences, dreams. The community shares with the valley, the valley tells its story to the community. We sleep in tents, cook and wash outdoors, have dinner at the Chiomonte construction site, and walk in the mountains.

Cutting the networks, in short, is fine!

  • 2018 - Genova - Buridda (website)

After 14 years, Hackmeeting returns to Genoa, in the rooms of Buridda. The hallmark of the venue is undoubtedly its focus on self-construction, but there is no shortage of historical debates, such as the presentation of the Zapruder (an issue dedicated to hacking), a practical explanation of cryptographic advances in recent years, a workshop with PCs and USB sticks at hand, such as the one on Tails, and interesting and contradictory discussions on technical and political issues, such as electronic voting. Stop al Panico (Stop Panic) is presented, a collection of technical and legal suggestions to deal with in case of seizure, and alternative operating systems for mobile phones are discussed. Social media, nolike, and the toxic use of these tools are discussed, reflecting on how to reclaim “social” technologies, including the presentation of the Bolognese experiment mastodon.bida.im After three intense days, Sunday’s assembly is very well attended: we discover that the places that hosted the hackmeeting are regaining energy, while various hacklabs are springing up in various cities, driven not only by the desire to dismantle and understand technology as in the past or by the lack of internet at home, but by the desire to meet, discuss, and share impressions on these tools that surround us today and to seek common alternatives together. Last round at the bar, where this year the beer hasn’t run out yet, then a dip in the sea for those who can, farewells to all the creatures of this hackmeeting with the promise to see each other again soon in the south or north, online or offline, it makes no difference, the important thing is that we’re here.

  • 2019 - Firenze - csa nExt Emerson (website)

[ DATA EXPUNGED ]

  • 2020 - Roma - C.S.O.A Forte Prenestino (website)

[ DATA EXPUNGED ]

  • 2021 - Bologna - Casona di Ponticelli (website)

[ DATA EXPUNGED ]

  • 2022 - Torino - C.S.O.A Gabrio (website)

excerpt from press release

[…] Hackmeeting is back, the annual gathering of those who call themselves hackers in Italy, which this year will take place at the Gabrio social center in Turin from September 9 to 11. A moment of knowledge sharing. Not to pursue the dream of the next startup destined to become a money-making machine, but to analyze together the technologies we use every day: how they change and how they affect our real and virtual lives, and what role we can play in directing this change to free it from the control of those who want to monopolize its development, crumbling the social fabric and relegating us to increasingly narrow virtual spaces.

There are many seminars, from those dedicated to software for circumventing censorship, to those for the organization of activist collectives, to smartphone technologies dedicated to deaf or visually impaired people. And more: sexuality and its relationship with the internet, installing Linux on computers and mobile phones, the pitfalls of artificial intelligence (with the risk of consolidating discriminatory practices behind the apparent objectivity of machines), propaganda strategies on social media, and the future of free software.

Seminars open to everyone and free of charge, to bring together ideas and skills. […] Over the last quarter of a century, Hackmeeting has accompanied all stages of the internet’s development, sounding the alarm years in advance about what would happen in Italy and around the world. Google’s voracious appetite for people’s data, the pervasiveness of social media and the addictions it has caused, social control through devices, digital bubbles made of personalized propaganda, the transformation of cryptocurrencies from instruments of freedom into speculative tools, the end of net neutrality, the pitfalls of cell phones in working relationships or as a means of surveillance. […]

  • 2023 - Gallico Marina, Reggio Calabria - CSOA Angelina Cartella (website)

excerpt from press release

[…] Hackmeeting is nomadic by nature, moving from city to city to share and listen to experiences such as that of the Cartella social center, which for over twenty years has been an anomalous cell of self-management. In a fiery and harsh territory, where delegation and verticalization are the norm, Cartella mirrors the hacker community in its attitude of “sharing knowledge without establishing power.” […]

A moment of sharing knowledge, both theoretical and practical, to reshape reality by getting our hands dirty, or “hacking” in English. From sewing a computer bag to making jewelry out of electronic waste, Hackmeeting is not only a refuge for coders and geeks, but also a laboratory for the most diverse forms of expression. Collective learning practices to analyze together the technologies we use every day: how they change, how they affect our real and virtual lives, in order to use them consciously.

There will be many free seminars open to everyone: in addition to immersing yourself in user-friendly technologies, you will learn how to build a screen printing machine and repair a combustion engine. Between workshops and DJ sets, there will be discussions on how Big Tech uses personal data for a business model based on the pervasive manipulation of attention, mental health, and emotions.

  • 2024 - Brescia - CSA Warehouse 47 (website)

excerpt from press release

Tools for programming robots, discovering the secrets of artificial intelligence, traveling to the heart of a search engine, learning about the history of Brescia’s alternative radio station, cooking and learning about vegan and Palestinian cuisine, singing to the notes of HTTPS. […] Magazzino 47, home of the activist movement since 1985, is closely linked to Radio Onda d’Urto, a reference point for Brescia’s activist scene, a self-managed space where political commitment is intertwined with social activity, culture, and music. A festival […] of mutual learning and free exchange, to discover how to set up self-managed privacy-proof servers, with technical and legal insights, but also digital networks without the internet or anti-collision systems for drones. The goal: to bring technology back under the control of people in a world where more and more people are ending up under the control of devices, i.e., the big companies behind them. HackIT is only for “hackers” with a different exception than the usual one, namely those who want to manage their lives as they prefer and know how to get involved to do so. Even if they have never seen a computer in their life.

We start with the basics—using an electrical tester or installing Linux on your computer—to launch ourselves toward conquering control of our digital independence. Seminars open to everyone and free of charge, to bring together ideas and skills. A well-established formula, the result of an idea that was ahead of its time. The first edition dates back to 1998, and in over a quarter of a century, Hackmeeting has accompanied all stages of the network. Raising the alarm years in advance about what would happen in Italy and around the world. Google’s voracity for people’s data, the pervasiveness of social media and the addictions it has caused, social control through devices, digital bubbles made of personalized propaganda, the transformation of cryptocurrencies from instruments of freedom to means of speculation, the end of net neutrality, the pitfalls of cell phones in working relationships or as a means of surveillance. […]

  • 2025 - Cagliari - Sa Domu Ocupada (website)

[ DATA LOSS - RECOVERY IN PROGRESS ]

  • 2026 - Firenze - CSA nExtEmerson (website)

[ FUTURE HISTORY - UNSUPPORTED FORETELLING ]