Chaos Computer Club invites 'model citizens' to 40C3, Europe's biggest hacker party
CCC invites all model citizens to 40C3
The Chaos Computer Club will host the 40th Chaos Communication Congress, 40C3, from 27 to 30 December 2026 in Hamburg. Under the motto 'Model Citizens', the volunteer-run event expects over 16,000 visitors and opens its Call for Participation for talks, art, punk and music. Organizers frame the Congress as a model for solidarity and community against rising authoritarianism.
Differences are seen as an asset, the unfamiliar as a source of inspiration, and mutual needs as an opportunity to create a sense of community in which everyone feels comfortable and welcome.
- Mashimo
I have been to a couple of CCC events in my late teens'ish. Around 26C3.
Over all can recommend, at least as a groups. I used it to meet some online friends for the frist time. Wifi / wardriving nerds that I spend a lot of time with online.
But man, I think I have never been at a place with so many small negative experience with other people. Death by a thousand paper cuts. One older man out of nowhere loudly proclaimed I was Anti-semetic, because I was wearing a Palestinian keffiyeh. When sitting in the cellar in the "hacking area", friends of mine and me where coding on kismet or aircrack-ng, when someone from the neighboring desk asked what we where doing. After I told him he only lifted his nose slightly and with a smug smile said "Oh, that's what you call hacking today?"
At one camp, where there even was an event on photography, someone I met almost went into a rage every time he saw a camera. Not pointed at him, just someone with a camera. Off he went to tell the camera owner about how it was last camp and his opinion ..
Everything just minor interaction. But as a whole it's just not people I want to hang around with any more.
- pid0x17
If you live in Germany and would like to experience this on a smaller scale THIS WEEKEND, come to the CCC conference in Dresden, called Datenspuren, run by our local CCC Erfa-Kreis C3D2. It takes place from 18.09 - 20.09 in Zentralwerk Dresden.
It is a beautiful and inclusive environment that highlights not only a lot local hackers, but also a lot of artists.
I was there last year and it was amazing! I totally recommend it.
You can find more info about the event and the featured talks and events here:
- throwa356262
"27 to 30 December 2026"
I have always wanted to attend CCC in person, but these dates for the main conference only work if you are 20 and single...
- lolc
In the past it was "The Usual Suspects", now it is "Model Citizens". Back then smoking indoors at conferences was a topic hackers would discuss. Now I'm sure it will be a very serious conference full of grown-ups.
Will not be able to attend this year :'-) Have to ask friends to get me a "Model Citizen" shirt!
- CodesInChaos
How difficult is it to get a ticket as an outsider nowadays? I remember publicly available tickets selling out in like 3.5 seconds a few years ago.
- lrvick
I moved to central Silicon Valley where it all began hoping to have an endless supply of hackers building communities to hang out in. I can count on one hand the people that meet my definition of a hacker that do things for public good or personal curiosity rather than profit... in 10 years. It is a buy culture, not a build culture. "Engineers" who cannot install operating systems for themselves anymore and rely on a Genius Bar when they have a computer oopsie.
And Defcon... the average attendee is a corporate ghoul who only got into this for money, and has no care for anything they cannot readily leverage to further their careers. Even the privacy village has no idea how to use open source software let alone self host anything and just asks people to sign up to their slack, discord, and google groups. It is a disgrace.
But CCC really is the closest place I can go on the planet to hang out with tens of thousands of real hackers, most of which are not even employed in the industry, who just build incredible things with open source as a community because they can. Art everywhere, punk concerts in the bathrooms, their own phone networks built from scratch, underground bars built from scrap wood, no questions asked bring-your-own-server farms, and volunteer culture at its best.
Truly, going to CCC every year I can is how I get hope for the culture that might be possible in the valley again some day. I am going to do whatever it takes to bring that energy back to the valley to mot […]
- Stitch4223
I’ll be there and bring my average model citizen CYBER collection in display cases.
I’ve ordered hundreds of thousands of stickers with this meme already. [1]
Really looking forward to the event again.
- scientifik
Cliff Stoll was at DEFCON this year, would be great for Markus Hess to be at CCC to tell his side of the story.
Link to Cliff's talk: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=656058JxTM0