[Infowarrior] - Dateline Mole Allegedly at DefCon with Hidden Camera

[Richard Forno]

Dateline Mole Allegedly at DefCon with Hidden Camera -- Updated: Mole Caught
on Tape
By Kim Zetter EmailAugust 03, 2007 | 2:15:13

http://blog.wired.com/27bstroke6/2007/08/media-mole-at-d.html

Dateline_mole DefCon security on Friday warned attendees at the annual
hacker conference that Dateline NBC may have sent a mole with a hidden
camera to the event to capture hackers admitting to crimes. DefCon says it
was tipped off by their own mole at Dateline who sent them a pic of the
undercover journalist who DefCon employees identified as producer Michelle
Madigan.

DefCon, an annual underground hacking convention in Las Vegas, has a strict
policy against filming conference attendees -- TV media outlets are barred
from sweeping a room with their cameras and also have to get permission from
any individuals before capturing them on film. All journalists covering
DefCon sign an agreement upon registering for the conference that outlines
the rules, but the DefCon organizers say the mole apparently registered as a
regular attendee, thereby bypassing the legal agreement.

Dateline NBC is best known for its controversial To Catch A Predator series,
which uses hidden cameras to tape men who are  allegedly seeking to have sex
with minors they met online.

Dateline spokeswoman Jenny Tartikoff would not confirm or deny the
allegations about Madigan and the undercover camera at DefCon, saying only
that "It's not our policy to comment on our newsgathering."

Before opening the show for business Friday, the DefCon goons announced to
the crowd that there was a media mole among them. DefCon has been
broadcasting her picture on the screens in conference rooms before each
talk.

Note: The original version of the story did not have the picture or name the
journalist or outlet. The story was updated once Dateline responded to a
request for comment.

UPDATE 2: NBC's mole, Michelle Madigan, became the target of predators
herself this afternoon when she was outed at DefCon as an undercover
reporter and bolted out of the conference hotel with about two dozen
reporters with cameras and others chasing after her -- in the manner of an
NBC Dateline To Catch a Predator episode.

According to DefCon staff, Madigan had told someone she wanted to out an
undercover federal agent at DefCon. That person in turn warned DefCon about
Madigan's plans. Federal law enforcement agents from FBI, DoD, United States
Postal Inspection Service and other agencies regularly attend DefCon to
gather intelligence on the latest techniques of hackers. DefCon holds an
annual contest called Spot the Fed, in which attendees out people in the
audience they think are undercover federal agents. The contest is
good-natured, but the feds who get caught are generally ones who don't mind
getting caught.

DefCon staff say that Madigan was asked four times -- two times on the phone
and two times at the conference -- if she wanted to obtain press
credentials, but she declined.

DefCon staff lured her to a large hall telling her that the Spot the Fed
contest was in session and that she could get a picture of an undercover
federal agent at the contest. When she sat down, Jeff Moss, DefCon's
founder, announced that they were changing the game. Instead of Spot the
Fed, they were going to play Spot the Undercover Reporter and then
announced, "And there's one in here right now." Madigan, realizing she'd
been had, jumped from her seat and bolted out the door with reporters
carrying cameras chasing after her through the parking lot and to her car.