The Feed Is Ours: A Case for Custom Clients

I’ve wanted to attend DEF CON ever since I realized I think like a hacker.

I’ve watched plenty of DEF CON talks while rotating through talks from open source conferences and commentated speedruns at GamesDoneQuick. They inspired me to think about complex systems and how to influence them myself.

After years of Nintendo Switch modding, and the development of the SMM2 API which now dominates my modding work, my interest in engaging with the more technical side of my community increased. The zine Phrack is a historical publication from 1985 tracing its roots to phreaking and other black hat activity. It has been described as having "its finger on the pulse of hacker culture"; something I observed when it was cited in the discovery of exploits for the Nintendo Switch with volume 70 article 3 Attacking JavaScript Engines on Webkit exploitation. When I discovered Phrack’s call for papers and the generous extension I decided to put my all into it; employing the skills I had obtained from talks and blogposts to write a highly technical piece that would pass the stringent expectations of the Phrack editors.

The premise was a belief I had inserted into other talks and blogposts I had written but expressed as plainly as possible; my belief in the importance of custom clients for improving how we engage with technology and the internet. I also borrowed a metaphor I found to be quite prescient from Neal Stephenson’s novel The Diamond Age to add some flair. I knew I was competing with some of the greatest red teamers in the industry but I believed strongly in the ideas I was expressing.

I was overjoyed to discover I had been accepted and even more happy when I discovered physical Phrack copies would be handed out at DEF CON! That was what I needed to be convinced to attend for the first time. I found it to be the most inviting conference I’ve ever attended and I’m now excited to attend annually. But I would not have gone if not for my acceptance into Phrack.

Please read if you’re also interested in how custom clients can be used to improve the world.