DEF CON hackers ‘fed up with government,’ Jake Braun says • The Register

https://www.theregister.com/2026/02/28/def_con_jake_braun_fed_up_govt/

Publish Date: 2026-02-28 06:11:00

Interview Hackers – especially Jake Braun – are “fed up with government.”

Braun was one of the creators of the first-ever Voting Machine Hacking Village at DEF CON in 2017 and served as a homeland security and cyber advisor to the Obama and Biden administrations. He also co-founded the Franklin project, named for Benjamin Franklin, who founded America’s first volunteer fire department and published the annual Poor Richard’s Almanack – an eclectic collection of useful facts and other musings.

The Franklin project, which launched at DEF CON in 2024, enlists hackers to secure critical infrastructure, and 350 people signed up that year to donate their time and talent to securing water facilities.

Another of the project’s activities is publishing an annual Hacker’s Almanack in homage to Franklin’s effort.

The second volume, the DEF CON 33 Hackers’ Almanack, [PDF] landed earlier this month.

We saw society moving in the right direction for the last 500 years because of our commitment to science, human rights, and that seems to be at the very least slowing down, if not reversing

“Thinking back to Ben Franklin, we saw society moving in the right direction for the last 500 years because of our commitment to science, human rights, etc., and that seems to be at the very least slowing down, if not reversing,” Braun told The Register.

Braun said he blames government for this state of affairs – pointedly “the inability of government to continue to make the progress we saw from the enlightenment.”

“This community is so committed to these principles of human rights and freedom of speech and science, that that when we see people fuck with them – or when we see the people that we elect to preserve these things not doing their fucking job – we’re just like: ‘Fuck you guys,’” Braun said.

The Almanack…

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