It's been a long time coming, we know, but we can now say with assurance that H2K2 has finally come to an end. The hacker conference, held at the Hotel Pennsylvania in New York City, was scheduled to run from July 12-14, 2002. As it turns out, the discussion by former CIA man Robert Steele entitled "Everything you ever wanted to know about spying and did not know who to ask...." was never actually completed. Several attendees notified us that in fact there were some things that they really wanted to know about spying that had never been answered because it still wasn't clear to them who they should be asking. After a lot of mailing back and forth, a number of conference calls, and a raucous court hearing, we brought everyone back to New York on Thursday so that the panel could at last be finished. A transcript follows:
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Audience Member 1 (Brooklyn, New York): So if I'm spying on someone and I ask them to pay for my services later on, what recourse do I have if they refuse to pay?
Steele: Well, that's not really how spying works. You see, you really shouldn't even be telling those people --
Audience Member 1: I notice in your answer you're avoiding any mention of who was really responsible for 9/11. What are you hiding?
Steele: [unintelligible]
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Audience Member 2 (Marietta, Georgia): When filling out a visa application for another country, should I write "spying" as purpose of visit or will that be assumed when I show them my equipment and list of people I intend to follow?
Steele: Well, are you also planning on wearing that CIA baseball cap when you go? You are? OK, well what they will probably wind up doing is shuttling you to the express lane so you can bypass immigration entirely and go straight into the prison system. That's something a lot of travelers such as yourself don't take advantage of. It's a great way to meet some very excited people who want to know all about you and your culture.
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Audience Member 3 (Seattle, Washington): Is this microphone on?
Steele: Yes. Last question.
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Audience Member 4 (Pyongyang, Democratic People's Republic of Korea): How can I get "I Spy" on Region 5 DVD?
Steele: Let's talk at the bar.
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A full video transcript will be made available soon.