Defcon 5’s California Caravan Program/Zine

My very first Defcon was Defcon 2, back in 1994. A friend said, “hey do you want to go to this underground computer/hacker thing in Vegas? I read about it on Usenet.” I like Vegas and I liked thinking of myself as a hacker at the time, so I went. I learned a little and was confused by a lot. What is this colon-slash-slash thing that one dude mentioned? The following year, I was a lot more dialed in, as was the conference itself. I had regular access to a UC computer lab and understood more about the tech, skills, and culture. I was semi-regularly going to the LA 2600 meetings. More folks from the LA/Orange County scene were planning to attend. Somebody had the brilliant idea of forming a caravan. That same person had the bright idea of facilitating ride-matching between people who needed rides with people who had spare seats in their car. Unfortunately, that person also dropped out at the last minute, handing off responsibility to me and my friends, without having performed ANY of…