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Chaos Computer Club
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Chaos Computer Club | |
|---|---|
 CCC Logo |
|
| Origin | Berlin |
| Country | Germany |
| Years active | 1981–present |
| Category | Hacking |
| Founder(s) | Wau Holland |
| Product(s) | Datenschleuder Chaos Communication Congress Chaos Communication Camp Chaosradio Project Blinkenlights |
| Website(s) | CCC homepage |
The Chaos Computer Club (CCC) is one of the biggest and most influential hacker organisations. The CCC is based in Germany and other German-speaking countries and currently has about 1,500 members.
The CCC describes itself as "a galactic community of life's beings, independent of age, sex, race or societal orientation, which strives across borders for freedom of information…." In general, the CCC struggles for more transparency in governments, freedom of information and a human right to communication. Supporting the principles of the hacker ethic, the club also fights for free access to computers and technological infrastructure for everybody.
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The CCC was founded in Berlin on September 12, 1981 on a table from the Kommune 1 in the rooms of the newspaper Die Tageszeitung by Wau Holland and others in anticipation of the prominent role that information technology would play in the way people live and communicate.
The CCC became world famous when they hacked the German Bildschirmtext computer network and succeeded in getting a bank in Hamburg to debit the online account with DM 134,000 in favour of the club. The money was returned the next day in front of the press.
In 1989, the CCC was peripherally involved in the first cyberespionage case to make international headlines. A group of German hackers led by Karl Koch (who was loosely affiliated with the CCC) was arrested for breaking into US government and corporate computers and selling operating-system source code to the Soviet KGB.
The CCC is more widely known for its public demonstrations of security risks. In 1996, CCC members demonstrated an attack against Microsoft's ActiveX technology, changing personal data in a Quicken database from the outside. In April 1998, the CCC successfully demonstrated the cloning of GSM customer card, circumventing the A10 encryption algorithm.
In 2001, the CCC celebrated its twentieth birthday with an interactive light installation dubbed Project Blinkenlights that turned the building Haus des Lehrers in Berlin into a giant computer screen. A follow up installation (dubbed "Arcade") at the Bibliothèque nationale de France was the world's biggest light installation ever.
The CCC hosts the annual Chaos Communication Congress, Europe's biggest hacker congress, with up to 4,500 participants. Every four years, the Chaos Communication Camp is the outdoor alternative for hackers worldwide.
Members of the CCC also participate in various technological and political conferences around the planet.
The CCC publishes the quarterly magazine Datenschleuder ("data catapult"), and the CCC in Berlin also produces a monthly radio show called Chaosradio which picks up various technical and political topics in a three-hour talk radio show. The program is aired on a local radio station named Fritz. There is also a podcast spin-off named "Chaosradio Express," an international podcast called "Chaosradio International," and other radio programs offered by some regional Chaos Groups.
Famous members are co-founder Wau Holland and Andy Müller-Maguhn, who was a member of the ICANN board of directors for Europe until 2002.