Frank Rieger is a hacker in Germany and one of the most well-known spokesman for the chaos computer club. This organization is unlike anything we have in the United States, unlike anything I’ve seen anywhere else in the world. It’s computer hackers who’ve taken an interest in figuring out how to be activists for policy decisions in government that affect technology, especially computers, privacy, data. All the things that actually matter, but get thrown by the wayside by our corporate overlords.

It’s amazing getting to hang out with these guys. They’re doing something we haven’t figured out how to accomplish, how to create a lobby. They’ve been very effective. Talking to Frank about what they’ve accomplished over the years and things they’ve worked on is, both inspiring and terrifying because, they have had wins, but also losing ground at times as well.

And it’s just this sort of continual war of escalation, trying to keep governments from becoming surveillance states. Keep them from violating the sensibilities that we’ve had to develop in hard fought wars in the past. With authoritarian, dictatorships, and other despots who’ve taken control. They keep coming back in different forms. I wish we could find a way to be so engaged here in the U.S.

Personally, I started going to Germany for their event 25 years ago. I remember the first time I went with some American hackers to the Chaos Computer Congress, it happens every year in Germany between Christmas and New Year’s Eve. It’ll blow your mind. These hackers are incredible. It’s inspiring to see what they can do. I think it is kind of a backlash to the very structured education program in Germany and Europe at large. The misfits, they go hard and I’ve seen them do incredible things I thought were impossible at times. If it’s of any interest to you to go to hacker convention, this is the one to go to.

I think you’ll see that Frank is a very level person. He’s smart and well-spoken. He’s standing up for what’s right. I’m thrilled to be sharing with you.

Important Links:

• Frank Rieger on Wikipedia (in German)
• Chaos Computer Club