Richard Forno of Washington D.C., the Keynote speaker, described enemies growing among us. He is an information assurance expert who served as the first chief information security officer for Network Solutions and InterNIC, which are central to the operation of the Internet. Now a consultant to research organizations, he is also author of the 2003 book "Weapons of Mass Delusion: America's Real National Emergency," among other more technical titles.

Forno described corporate digital security as "theaters of illusion." "The self-serving (security and anti-virus) industries are telling us what's best for our society, and us," he said. "It is not in a major software vendor's economic interest to improve systems."

In 2001, at the behest of Adobe Systems Inc., the Federal Bureau of Investigation arrested Dimitry Sklyarov, a Russian programmer at a computer security conference in Las Vegas Nevada. The company told the FBI that Mr. Sklyarov violated the Digital Millennium Copyright Act, which makes it a crime to sell products that can be used to access certain kinds of copyrighted materials. According to Forno, Sklyarov was arrested for publicizing that the security for Adobe's eReader program was "non-existent." An uproar in the programming community resulted over the arrest. While corporations may convince politicians otherwise, "copyright protection is not protecting against terrorism," said Forno.

According to Forno, "Microsoft is moving into shared computing," he said. "When you download a copy of Windows Media Player, according to its software license agreement, you've also opened up your computer to Microsoft making changes to your system with or without your knowledge." Via the Internet new versions of Microsoft's operating systems are increasingly tethered to central servers operated by companies that have full access to your computer. "The applications on your computer are inter-linked, too closely for comfort, with the Microsoft Operating System."

A corporate assault on citizen prerogatives and freedoms is happening in many ways, said Forno. The Disney Corporation, which started by using public domain cartoon characters in its first film, has successfully pushed back the date of the release of Disney's material into the public domain from 50 to 70 years and perhaps longer.

"Now I'm going to tell you something that I have to break the law to tell you," he said. "Sony spent $20 million to make a CD impossible to copy. Then someone found that using a Sharpie laundry marker to draw a ring on the outer edge of the disc circumvents this protection, and makes the disk capable of being copied. I broke the law because it is illegal to discuss methods of circumventing digital copyright projections." He also wondered if Sharpie markers would be considered illegal under new U.S. copyright protection laws.

"Congress is owned by two industries. The military and entertainment," he said. "There is a cyber arms race between corporations and new technology with end-users caught in the chaotic middle."

"We are headed into a world where we are presumed guilty until we are presumed guiltier," he said. "Content, innovation and access is increasingly restricted to a few powerful entities. Regular users do not understand that this environment is slowly bubbling up over time. It is coming in low under the radar. We are like a frog in the water pot slowly being brought to a boil before we figure out it is too late to jump out."

Due to outsourcing, even the military may not be as secure as many of us may think. Forno showed a map of the major national links of the Navy-Marine Corps Internet, which is operated by the major troubled telecommunications firm Worldcom. The map showed what seemed to be public knowledge: Worldcom's major switches. There are four junctures in the nation wide system where the Navy and Marines communication can be disrupted. If all four are hit, this military system is seriously degraded or disrupted.

He completed the presentation with a "Digital Wall of Shame," with photographs of major business and government figures and comments about the actions. After the presentation he said, "The gray hairs are afraid of technology because they are used to how things were done. If they (the record and film industries) embraced digital technology as it evolved they would be way ahead."

In his view the entertainment industry blew it by suing Napster and others with new technology instead of attempting to incorporate a system with this technology to bring in royalty payments. The new Apple iPod and similar systems of downloadable music for a fee is what the record companies could have had some years ago. More of Forno's thoughts can be found at http://www.infowarrior.org.

Of the 90 or so paying guests at Notacon, and an additional 60 who helped, about 90 percent were male and most in their mid-30s or younger. According to the conference director, Paul "Froggy" Schneider, the emphasis on music and art as well as the usual digital technology, made this event different from "typical" hacker conferences. Artists and digital art was provided by Cleveland's New Center for Art and Technology. And some conference goers said they were pleased to walk through the hotel lobby often filled that weekend with young female jump ropers in town for a competition.

Mr. Schneider, a lab manager in the electrical engineering department at Case Western Reserve University, and a co-backer, put up $10,000 to start Notacon. There was no major corporate financial backing, "so we are not tied into a party line to keep a corporate sponsor happy. It is nice for the presenters to be able to speak off the record. "Most people (computer geeks) don't know who to connect with in Cleveland," he said. Music and art was included because, "I am more than a computer geek. I am a DJ and artist as well."

"Cons make it easy to collaborate on projects," said Kathy Wang a former chip designer and security software researcher from Northern Virginia who founded Syn Ack Labs a non-profit organization focused on cryptography and other security technologies. "It is a lot of fun and we get value in trading lessons learned." The following synopsis of her presentation about blocking Internet spoofers is tonic offered in an era of apparent decrepit leaders needing guidance. "Sun Tzu (the ancient Chinese philosopher) once stated: 'Know your enemy and know yourself, and in a hundred battles you will never be defeated.'"

According to other guests, Rajeev Khurana gave a particularly insightful session on the USA Patriot Act. He is a Case Western Reserve University senior majoring in political science and economics and a research and policy analyst at ACLU Ohio. The information age opened up as if it was going to be a technically goosed "Age of Aquarius" providing open exchange and free flow of ideas. Soon after 9/11 Congress haphazardly pasted together legislation that has many implications for our privacy, for small to medium sized businesses as well as network security and technology. Unfortunately I missed Mr. Khurana's show. The program description of the presentation said: "We are no longer free to go about our business without fear of big brother watching over our shoulders. He is in our telecommunication networks, in our libraries, businesses and bedrooms. Our civil liberties are being eroded every day, yet many of use of not come to realize this stark reality...all hope is not lost. There are things we can do to reclaim the liberty that the founders of this country and generations before us worked so hard to secure."

Eric Meyer provided two useful Web authoring seminars, High-Powered Style & Getting Friendly with (X)HTML. He convinced this writer to go beyond working in html to also work in xhtml. Mr. Meyer is a principal in Cleveland Heights-based Complex Spiral Consulting.

Michael Tetreault, a software developer and security expert, presented a scary account of how we are digitally naked "under the ever-watchful eye of electronic surveillance." One of several threats he presented are certain potential uses of RFID (Radio Frequency ID), an up-and-coming technology. RFID provides a system of radio signal emitting "tags" that can be placed on products or even implanted in people. While RFID will help businesses save huge costs on keeping track of inventory and cutting theft, Mr. Tetreault told of how some states are considering implanting RFID chips in child molesters. As someone in the audience said, "After child molesters, who's next? And then, who is after that?"

Tetreault also told of the Multi State Anti Terrorist Information Exchange (MATIE) that provides for sharing among U.S. states of a "data warehouse" of all kinds of information on citizenry. "While some states have backed out of MATIE because of privacy concerns, the State of Ohio is one of the participants," he said. Number one for anyone's personal security is to be discreet with your personal info, especially your social security number.

While I missed a presentation by Laurence Gartel, known as the father of digital art, I caught Cleveland photographer Alexander Aitken who presented Through the Magic Mirror: Reflections on photography.

Photo manipulation has been around for a long time. "Advertising is a strange thing," said Mr. Aitken. " It is a lot cheaper to manipulate the person than improve the product...In spite of all the modern media available, photographs of war are fairly oppressed."

A discussion of the strategic and human sides of war was lead by Janison Lundy (aka "echo"), a military technology expert from Detroit. In the old days, the world's leading nations were more overtly imperial. Selling Coke, movies and records is done under a new model of imperialism. And history is replete with examples of technology being used ineffectively while occupying a country.

Notacon's presentations, which had audience participation to the point of razzing some presenters, covered Slashdot.com (the geek news feed), digital music recording and production, amateur radio, how the telecommunications system works, an experimental digital social messaging system, the Ethics of the Hacker, brain-computer interfaces, among numerous other topics. Notacon also featured musicians including Doc of Detroit, and from Boston: Computo, Gadi & RobB, The Signal Graffitiists and the Sons of Liberty. Featured DJs included Darkcut of Detroit and Roggy, Rathumos and Vitruvius of Cleveland. Featured artists included Laurence Gartel, Cleveland digital video artist and Cleveland Institute of Art instructor Kasumi, Tiffany Mielcarek, Mark Napier, Michael Nekic, Richard Tuschman and Kevin S. O'Brien. In the program credits the Cleveland branch of the notorious hacker group 2600 was listed right next to CWRU. And the Saturday night movies (digital video clips) were a hoot.

Notacon is an offspring of Rubi-Con, which was held in Detroit Michigan for five years until last year, when it attracted over 400 guests, then apparently folded. Many at Notacon came from Michigan or New York City, as well as perhaps dozen other states scattered across the U.S. About a third in attendance were from Ohio. For about half the audience, this was their first visit to Cleveland according to a show of hands. Many knew each other from previous cons. Most cons are on the east and west coasts, with few in the Midwest. For its insight and forthrightness, Cleveland's geeks, artists, DJs and musicians are fortunate to have Notacon, which is planned to return next April. From Cool Cleveland reader Lee Batdorff (:divend:)