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Enigma Macine at the NSA's RSA booth. Photo by the author.
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Still, some of the presenters at B-Sides didn’t want to talk about Snowden—most likely because some of them were employed by companies also presenting at RSA—but others said the Snowden leaks have splintered the community. “You can see the effects of Snowden’s disclosures, there’s a spectrum now,” said Rodrigo Bijou, an independent security expert, “There are people who are going to make money off of stopping people like him [Snowden].”While B-Sides presents itself as the antithesis to the RSA conference, TrustyCon was probably the most articulate expression of anti-RSA sentiment. Its creation came in response to the Reuters report implicating RSA with the NSA, which spurred international media coverage, and widespread speculation about the extent to which the security industry was in bed with the government.TrustyCon was held in a movie house adjacent to one of the facilities RSA used. Most of the day was packed with talks (viewable here), but the organizers made clear that it wasn't completely adversarial. “RSA is a little past its prime,” Alex Stamos, one of TrustyCon’s organizers, told me. “The keynote lineup, with big sponsors, it’s not all based on tech merit.” It was a success I'd say, despite RSA’s reported attempts to put the kibosh on the conference.You can see the effects of Snowden’s disclosures, there’s a spectrum now. There are people who are going to make money off of stopping people like him [Snowden].
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