The rest were less good for me personally. Either over-dramatic and shallow (with a sexy-sounding topic) or too procedural in topics I'm not an expert in.
Somehow it did not get much attention, but Signal president Meredith Whittaker (together with
Udbhav Tiwari) spoke about the risks and threats from AI-enabled systems.
Foundation workshop: Hands-on, how does the Internet work?
by Ingo Blechschmidt, is congress at its best. Getting a diverse set of people with various backgrounds and knowledge levels to
ARP spoof in a little over an hour is art.
The biggest problem with ccc is that:
0. They are releasing too few tickets.
1. They are releasing the tickets too late.
3. Still not able to pay with card?
I live somewhat nearby, but can’t book or plan a visit because of this. I appreciate that they are releasing videos shortly afterwards though.
"Liberation of the Freebox", A slightly crazy Frenchman embarks on a quest to find exploit and write a complex exploit chain, using PrDoom and the Linux HFS+ driver to gain root privileges on his set-top box. All this in order to unlock the recording of somewhat rubbish TV channels such as TF1 and M6.
And he waited almost ten years and the retirement of the hardware to reveal it because he didn't want it to be patched.
If you are into hardware emulation "From silicon to Darude sand-storm" is fun.
Absolutely Cory Doctorow's, for the showmanship alone. Lovely background slides. The message itself might not resonate with everyone.
The talk "Look Up" about unencrypted data over DVB satellite links was also though provoking, both in presentation and in technical content. If there's that much data unencrypted over a mainstream IP link, imagine how much is still on legacy protocols in 2025.
Just for sheer geekery's sake probably the ISDN talk.
For OMG eye opening factor the FreeBSD jails talk (how the hell is this thing still so buggy?) and the talk on unencrypted satellite links
For excellent follow-along value and dedication to ridiculously pointless cause the Freebox talk. "Technically I don't own this box so instead of risking damaging it I'm going to take the extremely long and entertaining route around, somehow involving Doom WAD files"
I haven't seen all of them (which I wanted to see) yet, I had a lot of fun with various talks. Thus far, my favourite one was hands down [1], and I can explain why. I am not at all good with hardware, nor hardware designing i.e. I'm not the target audience for this talk.
However, the talk was beautiful. It went quick, was informative, good slides, very respectful Q&A (comms and quality-wise), and it had a message of DIY _and_ inspiring hope. It is easy to criticize X or say we need to do better with Y. These guys are doing it, and their journey and findings is completely open source (even though there was substantial financial risk involved). The hacker spirit 101.
One interesting detail: In previous years, Joscha Bach gave a talk on AI, consciousness, and related topics (see e.g. [0]). A similar talk was planned for this year as well, but after emails between him and Epstein were made public (see his comment on this in [1]), his talk was canceled. Instead, there appears to have been an event that critically addressed the situation [2]. Unfortunately it was not recorded. Did anyone attend? A discussion between Joscha and his critics would have been really interesting.
Well that discussion talk is not an open discourse about the situation...
He quoted what he believed was scientific evidence in a private conversation that became public, has comments on fashism being efficient are clearly anti-facist and believed to observe a gender stereotype. No matter if the facts were true, it should be possible to discuss such things (especially those you think are facts) in private without getting canceled. Even if they would play in to the hand of racism or sexism if made as public statements.
I found his appology a bit weak, but I also don't see his offense, despite the messages in public being offensive and possibly harmful.
This meta discussion synopsis "Tech-Transcendentalism as Hypermodern Myth and Neofeudal Ideology [all creatures welcome]" feels like reading a rabit hole of a mountain.
I would have loved another talk from Joscha, the critisism is weirdly ignorant.
To add some context and to spare readers who, like me, know nothing about Joscha Bach and only little about Epstein from having to go through all the linked material:
The allegations do not appear to involve abuse or moral complicity with Epstein. Instead, they seem to focus on emails Bach exchanged with Epstein concerning IQ, race, and possibly sex. Bach denies these allegations of racism and sexism.
That is at least how I understand the material based on the provided links.
"All of the people I know who were friends with this sociopathic child-trafficking pedophile told me he was reformed now" is certainly something to put out there.
It has some long tradition placing those visibly on the podium. As the story goes, the idea is that you can immediately see if the video stream freezes up (because the cat in the video suddenly stops waving). You wouldn't immediately catch that in between talks (when you have some time to fix the issue) if the camera was just pointed at an empty stage with no movement. I think at 30C3 or so, I saw one that was placed so that it would repeatedly knock on the microphone as well.
Anyway, the waving cat has become a bit of a meme by itself and mascot of the VOC, hence also the (animated) icon in video player.
It is a Maneki-neko (beckoning cat / Winkekatze). The video team started putting them on podiums so they could see when a stream was frozen. So it became kind of a mascot.
> I assume you've spotted the pattern by now: the US trade representative has forced every one of its trading partners to adopt anticircumvention law, to facilitate the extraction of their own people's data and money by American firms. But of course, that only raises a further question: Why would every other country in the world agree to let America steal its own people's money and data, and block its domestic tech sector from making interoperable products that would prevent this theft?
> Here's an anecdote that unravels this riddle: many years ago, in the years before Viktor Orban rose to power, I used to guest-lecture at a summer PhD program in political science at Budapest's Central European University. And one summer, after I'd lectured to my students about anticircumvention law, one of them approached me.
> They had been the information minister of a Central American nation during the CAFTA negotiations, and one day, they'd received a phone-call from their trade negotiator, calling from the CAFTA bargaining table. The negotiator said, "You know how you told me not to give the Americans anticircumvention under any circumstances? Well, they're saying that they won't take our coffee unless we give them anticircumvention. And I'm sorry, but we just can't lose the US coffee market. Our economy would collapse. So we're going to give them anticircumvention. I'm really sorry."
> That's it. That's why every government in the world allowed US Big Tech companies to declare open season on their people's private data and ready cash.
> The alternative was tariffs. Well, I don't know if you've heard, but we've got tariffs now!
> I mean, if someone threatens to burn your house down unless you follow their orders, and then they burn your house down anyway, you don't have to keep following their orders. So…Happy Liberation Day?
I’d argue that what you're experiencing isn't the Network Effect anymore, but rather Vendor Lock-in.
The Network Effect implies the platform gets better for you as more people join. If they are deleting your content, the network is no longer serving you—it’s just holding you hostage. This is enshitification as it best. (this ironie with a cory doctorow link)
At this stage, it’s just a walled garden. Staying because 'everyone is here' while being silenced is learned helplessness.
You're voluntarily staying in a walled garden that refuses to let you speak.
I attended 7 talks.
My favourite talk by far was hacking the GPG. Brilliant, really: https://media.ccc.de/v/39c3-to-sign-or-not-to-sign-practical...
The "In-house electronics manufacturing from scratch" was a very inspiring talk: https://media.ccc.de/v/39c3-in-house-electronics-manufacturi...
The rest were less good for me personally. Either over-dramatic and shallow (with a sexy-sounding topic) or too procedural in topics I'm not an expert in.
AI Agent, AI Spy
https://media.ccc.de/v/39c3-ai-agent-ai-spy
I also found the talk about Asahi interesting, both from a technical standpoint but also as a nice update what the current status is.
Asahi Linux - Porting Linux to Apple Silicon
https://media.ccc.de/v/39c3-asahi-linux-porting-linux-to-app...
Finally, not recorded, but workshops like
Foundation workshop: Hands-on, how does the Internet work?
by Ingo Blechschmidt, is congress at its best. Getting a diverse set of people with various backgrounds and knowledge levels to ARP spoof in a little over an hour is art.
https://events.ccc.de/congress/2025/hub/event/detail/foundat...
Not an Impasse: Child Safety, Privacy, and Healing Together: https://media.ccc.de/v/39c3-not-an-impasse-child-safety-priv...
APT Down and the mystery of the burning data centers: https://media.ccc.de/v/39c3-apt-down-and-the-mystery-of-the-...
Bluetooth Headphone Jacking: A Key to Your Phone: https://media.ccc.de/v/39c3-bluetooth-headphone-jacking-a-ke...
I live somewhat nearby, but can’t book or plan a visit because of this. I appreciate that they are releasing videos shortly afterwards though.
Sandstorm JP-8000 sawtooth DSP reversing https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XM_q5T7wTpQ
Washing machines hacking https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q1S-PVo3GlA
AMD (ps5 sorta) security: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cVJZYT8kYsI
cool demo for the BT headphones talk: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TK5Tz4Bt94Y
precise time syncing with PTP: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dOt-zRIG5co
x86 > arm with intermediate: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3yDXyW1WERg
And he waited almost ten years and the retirement of the hardware to reveal it because he didn't want it to be patched.
If you are into hardware emulation "From silicon to Darude sand-storm" is fun.
the https://media.ccc.de/v/39c3-from-silicon-to-darude-sand-stor...
The talk "Look Up" about unencrypted data over DVB satellite links was also though provoking, both in presentation and in technical content. If there's that much data unencrypted over a mainstream IP link, imagine how much is still on legacy protocols in 2025.
For OMG eye opening factor the FreeBSD jails talk (how the hell is this thing still so buggy?) and the talk on unencrypted satellite links
For excellent follow-along value and dedication to ridiculously pointless cause the Freebox talk. "Technically I don't own this box so instead of risking damaging it I'm going to take the extremely long and entertaining route around, somehow involving Doom WAD files"
For showmanship probably the Tegra talk
Because everything that complex is going to be that buggy.
With the bugs they found fix a constant number of them still remains.
https://media.ccc.de/v/39c3-the-last-of-us-fighting-the-eu-s...
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=h3UcecN5fvQ
The one on whatsapp bugs https://media.ccc.de/v/39c3-dngerouslink-a-deep-dive-into-wh...
However, the talk was beautiful. It went quick, was informative, good slides, very respectful Q&A (comms and quality-wise), and it had a message of DIY _and_ inspiring hope. It is easy to criticize X or say we need to do better with Y. These guys are doing it, and their journey and findings is completely open source (even though there was substantial financial risk involved). The hacker spirit 101.
[1] https://media.ccc.de/v/39c3-in-house-electronics-manufacturi...
[0] https://media.ccc.de/v/38c3-self-models-of-loving-grace
[1] https://joscha.substack.com/p/on-the-jeffrey-epstein-affair
[2] https://events.ccc.de/congress/2025/hub/en/event/detail/tech...
He quoted what he believed was scientific evidence in a private conversation that became public, has comments on fashism being efficient are clearly anti-facist and believed to observe a gender stereotype. No matter if the facts were true, it should be possible to discuss such things (especially those you think are facts) in private without getting canceled. Even if they would play in to the hand of racism or sexism if made as public statements.
I found his appology a bit weak, but I also don't see his offense, despite the messages in public being offensive and possibly harmful.
This meta discussion synopsis "Tech-Transcendentalism as Hypermodern Myth and Neofeudal Ideology [all creatures welcome]" feels like reading a rabit hole of a mountain.
I would have loved another talk from Joscha, the critisism is weirdly ignorant.
The allegations do not appear to involve abuse or moral complicity with Epstein. Instead, they seem to focus on emails Bach exchanged with Epstein concerning IQ, race, and possibly sex. Bach denies these allegations of racism and sexism.
That is at least how I understand the material based on the provided links.
It has some long tradition placing those visibly on the podium. As the story goes, the idea is that you can immediately see if the video stream freezes up (because the cat in the video suddenly stops waving). You wouldn't immediately catch that in between talks (when you have some time to fix the issue) if the camera was just pointed at an empty stage with no movement. I think at 30C3 or so, I saw one that was placed so that it would repeatedly knock on the microphone as well.
Anyway, the waving cat has become a bit of a meme by itself and mascot of the VOC, hence also the (animated) icon in video player.
Cory Doctorow's talk is quite strong.
An excerpt:
> I assume you've spotted the pattern by now: the US trade representative has forced every one of its trading partners to adopt anticircumvention law, to facilitate the extraction of their own people's data and money by American firms. But of course, that only raises a further question: Why would every other country in the world agree to let America steal its own people's money and data, and block its domestic tech sector from making interoperable products that would prevent this theft?
> Here's an anecdote that unravels this riddle: many years ago, in the years before Viktor Orban rose to power, I used to guest-lecture at a summer PhD program in political science at Budapest's Central European University. And one summer, after I'd lectured to my students about anticircumvention law, one of them approached me.
> They had been the information minister of a Central American nation during the CAFTA negotiations, and one day, they'd received a phone-call from their trade negotiator, calling from the CAFTA bargaining table. The negotiator said, "You know how you told me not to give the Americans anticircumvention under any circumstances? Well, they're saying that they won't take our coffee unless we give them anticircumvention. And I'm sorry, but we just can't lose the US coffee market. Our economy would collapse. So we're going to give them anticircumvention. I'm really sorry."
> That's it. That's why every government in the world allowed US Big Tech companies to declare open season on their people's private data and ready cash.
> The alternative was tariffs. Well, I don't know if you've heard, but we've got tariffs now!
> I mean, if someone threatens to burn your house down unless you follow their orders, and then they burn your house down anyway, you don't have to keep following their orders. So…Happy Liberation Day?
The Network Effect implies the platform gets better for you as more people join. If they are deleting your content, the network is no longer serving you—it’s just holding you hostage. This is enshitification as it best. (this ironie with a cory doctorow link)
At this stage, it’s just a walled garden. Staying because 'everyone is here' while being silenced is learned helplessness.
You're voluntarily staying in a walled garden that refuses to let you speak.
But: The door is wide open, you can go.
It carries even more weight now that "post-American" is coming from...an American. This guy stands for his ideals, I envy such resolve.
Bluetooth Headphone Jacking: A Key to Your Phone [video]
https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46453204
Hacking Washing Machines [video]
https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46428496
Escaping containment: A security analysis of FreeBSD jails [video]
https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46436828
All my Deutschlandtickets gone: Fraud at an industrial scale [video]
https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46411930