The problem with trains is that the capital investment and up-front work that is needed becomes a political issue[1]. How do you decide on the route of a new train line? Who pays for the line to be built?
Building railway infrastructure was simpler when there was a lot of open country to build long straight lines through, but building a new line today is much harder with compulsory purchase of land and groups lobbying against it. The process takes a long time too, so elected officials won't see the benefits of backing it at the next election.
I think it is unlikely that US freight will move from road to rail without a significant amount of political and financial pressure.
Thank you for taking the time to respond. I can certainly understand the feelings of betrayal and injustice that comes from a government breaking the law to spy on its own citizens.
I have been working in the information security industry for just shy of a decade and while I have been openly accepted to attend/participate/speak at events, I have always felt that it is a US-centric industry. I had assumed that this is because of the huge amount of government money invested in to corporations and individuals that make up the community.
One of the things that I love about DEF CON is that it is big enough to make it truly international, when teamed with Black Hat it makes that week in Vegas unmissable. This stance on feds, by many people who I would call friends, gives the impression that they were happy to work/contract for the US gov while they knew they were targeting foreigners but not citizens.
> but if the very netsec community doesn't have the balls to stand up to the extreme over-reach of the NSA, then we are farked.
I would agree with this much more if they had previously had a statement suggesting that feds from oppressive foreign regimes were not invited. As a non-US citizen, there is a sentiment of "it was OK when we thought they were just doing it to foreigners" about much of this debate.
However, this isn't about standing up to anyone, it's a PR move by DEF CON.
Yes Gen. Alexander is still speaking at Black Hat. I'm not sure that DT has the influence inside Black Hat that he once did. I would be interested to see how that talk goes down, but then BH has never been about "hackers" in the way that DEF CON is
There appears to be a distinct effort to separate BH and DC this year, there is less speaker overlap compared with previous years, attendance to BH doesn't get you in to DC like it used to, etc. This is probably UBM (owners of the BH brand) trying to protect their revenue.
There is nothing to mark them as feds, payments are in cash and everyone is in plain clothes. I think this will make very little difference to who attends.
It is also worth mentioning that Black Hat (the two days preceding DEF CON) has reportedly seen a drop in registrations due to lack of funding for federal employees to attend (I have no source for this other than industry rumor). There was a suggestion that some would still attend DEF CON and save on the registration cost for Black Hat, but many were planning to stay away anyway.
I feel that this is more public relations than anything else, the feds will still be there but DEF CON can present the image of being underground hackers fighting "the man". Some of the smartest people that I have met at these sort of events work for governments around the world, either directly or through private companies.
The reason the lines have blurred between the two groups over the past decade is as much to do with money as it is to do with diplomacy or a shared enemy. I think that this statement goes against one of the core values of DEF CON: that everyone is welcome, regardless of background or ability.
Building railway infrastructure was simpler when there was a lot of open country to build long straight lines through, but building a new line today is much harder with compulsory purchase of land and groups lobbying against it. The process takes a long time too, so elected officials won't see the benefits of backing it at the next election.
I think it is unlikely that US freight will move from road to rail without a significant amount of political and financial pressure.
[1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/High_Speed_2