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The Chaos Computer Club (CCC) is one of the biggest and most influental 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.
History
The CCC was founded in Berlin on September 12, 1981 by Wau Holland and others in anticipation of the prominent role that information technology would play in the way people live and communicate. The Germans' sensitivity to Nineteen Eighty-Four–like scenarios (as they had already experienced two of their own—the Nazi era and the Stasi system of the GDR) might have played a role in the formation of the CCC. Today, Germans in general tend to be much more critical of all kinds of public surveillance than is common in other countries.
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.
Events
The CCC hosts the annual Chaos Communication Congress, Europe's biggest hacker congress, with up to 3,500 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.
Publications
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 are also a podcast spin-off named "Chaosradio Express", an international podcast called "Chaosradio International" and other radio programs offered by some regional Chaos Groups.
Members
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.
See also
External links
Hacker groups | Computer clubs
Chaos Computer Club | Chaos Computer Club | Chaos Computer Club | Chaos Computer Club
"Chaos Computer Club"