Hacker Working Group                                                  FX
Request for comments 0x7dc                                     Phenoelit
Category: Informational                                    February 2012

                          PH-Neutral X Edition

Status of this Memo

   This memo provides information for the hacker community.  This memo
   does not specify an Internet standard of any kind.  Distribution of
   this memo is unlimited.

Copyright Notice

   Copyright (C) Phenoelit Group - This work is licensed under a 
   Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported
   License, but who cares?

Motivation

   In extensive testing, it has been noticed that the information
   sharing and learning during gatherings of interested and skilled
   individuals, commonly referred to as conferences, changes for any
   particular individual over time. While initially, the most insights
   are gained by attending presentations and working through the
   presented material afterwards, over years the individual, striving
   for a more efficient information retrieval approach, resorts to what
   is known as the hallway track.

Historical Context

   Previous re-designs and re-implementations of the conference concept,
   commonly referred to as PH-Neutral events, have shown that it is
   beneficial for the general research process to occasionally rework
   the basic concepts by reduction. This means that the desirable
   aspects of existing implementations are expanded upon, while the less
   desired aspects are reduced. The re-designs are not meant as
   replacements but rather as proof of concept, a well established
   method of formal proof in the hacker community. The hereby proposed
   re-design follows the same spirit of the previous re-designs, which
   by now have influenced several real world implementations.

Proposal

   The goal of the proposed implementation is to maximize the information
   sharing bandwidth and throughput during a defined time frame. In
   order to accomplish this, the format uses a canvas LOC that represents
   the "hallway", but in contrast provides superior support, including 
   easily accessible food, drinks and sanitary facilities, as well as a
   smoking and a non smoking section.
   
   The time frame is set to be 8 to 10 standard hours, at the point in
   time denoted as PIT.

   Participants in the format shall be denoted nodes in this proposal.
   Nodes are introduced by a dual pooling system, where each pool
   has Pn slots, with Pn = MAX/2. 

   Pool P1 is seeded by individuals who have successfully obtained and
   used a PH-Neutral key for PHM PH-Neutral events. It is desired but 
   not required to still be in the possession of every one of these keys.

   Pool P2 is seeded by arbitrary nodes, who respond to this proposal by
   using a SMTP transfer to the host reported in the MX record of the
   Internet domain phenoelit.de, addressing the recipient user fx. Said
   response shall include a topic of research, which the node is willing
   to explain in ad-hoc sessions to other nodes during the execution of
   PXE. The content shall be explainable in 10-15 standard minutes and
   the node shall be willing and prepared to explain it as often as 
   required during the entire event. A suggestion list of topics may be
   found in the section Edge Communication.

Edge Communication

   For the maximum transfer to work, nodes must strive to create as many
   communication graph edges with other nodes as possible during PXE.
   The content of the edge communication may include:
   - Code and tools that facilitate computer security research and
     hacking, both offensive and defensive in nature
   - Concepts, algorithms, procedures that aid research
   - Reports on research experiences, preferably including a time line
     of steps and their success or lack thereof
   - Of special interest are reports on FAILED RESEARCH, meaning that
     the intended goal was not reached
   - For particularly unimaginative nodes, the standard currency of
     hackers is also accepted (note: that's 0days, not bitcoin!)

   All nodes, regardless of the pool they were introduced from, shall 
   bring sufficient material and equipment in order to participate in 
   maximum transfer communication.

   The goal is to achieve a fully meshed graph with MAX^2 edges within
   the time frame of PXE.

Graceful Shutdown

   It is understood that nodes willing to participate in PXE may suffer
   from mental overload and smoking brain matter after execution.
   Therefore, a graceful shutdown in the more familiar settings of the
   location BSL is provided by a good team of hackers during BST
   afterwards, allowing the strained brain to rest and party Phenoelit
   style for two nights and to fall back to the presentation listening
   mode for two days.

Constants

   LOC - Frannz Club (http://www.frannz.de/), Berlin, Germany
   PIT - 2012 May 25, begin 11:00 CET
   MAX - 0x64
   PHM - 0x9
   BSL - BerlinSides, Universal Hall, Berlin, Germany
   BST - 2012 May 25-27