HAL 2001 is now official - the following announcement was put out on Thursday.

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It is with great pride and hollow insane laughter that we announce to you that HAL 2001 will happen. At the time of writing this, we're still working on closing some sizeable remaining budgetary gaps. But most of our budget is now covered by sponsorships, so we feel it's time to announce the good news.

Some of us have tried substitutes, and boy, did they taste swell. But nothing, absolutely nothing, can stop this once-every-four-year itch. After 1989, 1993 and 1997, it is time for a megalomaniac, life-changing, hacker extravaganza event in The Netherlands again.

So, this is the time to re-schedule your marriage. Cancel that cruise to the Caribean. Do whatever else is necessary to make sure that you are on the Campus of the University of Twente, (in the east of The Netherlands) between August 10th and 12th of this year, 2001.

Ticket sales will start relatively soon, and early information on many aspects of the event will be on http://www.hal2001.org shortly. Expect announcements from different corners of the HAL organization to increase as the entire machine picks up speed over the next months. The website offers the opportunity to subscribe to our announcement mailing list.

HAL 2001

The HAL2001 convention is the fourth in a series that has been running every four years since 1989. Quite a few of the participants at "The Galactic Hacker Party" (1989), "Hacking at the End of the Universe" (1993) and "Hacking in Progress" (1997) have been instrumental in bringing about the changes that are upon us today.

HAL2001 expects to receive thousands of guests from all over the world and from many different disciplines to debate issues ranging from advanced technical issues regarding some obscure aspect of the Internet to easy-to-understand lectures on some of the dangers of the information society, as well as many, many other topics. But more than debate, the guests at HAL2001 take ample time to get on-line, relax, build and discuss cool stuff, and engage in good old analog interfacing.

HAL2001 is for those that can truly celebrate the Internet and embrace new technologies, without forgetting their responsability to tell others that all these wonderful new technologies come with new risks to the individual and to society as a whole.

Sponsors:

The HAL 2001 organization would like to thank the sponsors for making this event possible:

XS4ALL Internet BV www.xs4all.nl

XS4ALL foundation

University of Twente www.utwente.nl

NLNet foundation www.nlnet.nl

Usenix www.usenix.org

ITSX www.itsx.com

GorillaPark www.gorillapark.com

Board of HAL foundation:

Cor Bosman

Jaco Lockhorst

Rop Gonggrijp

HAL-staff:

Gerrit Hiddink

Eric Slachmuylders

Contact Information:

Gerrit Hiddink

grit@wwcn.org

(+31) (0)53-4892425