2002

In the infamous and most talked about meeting was where the group was actually Visited by the FBI, the media was up an arms about the terrorist hackers bent on blowing the city up

Read more about these opinions

What came later was a response from chicago2600 on the ACTUAL "contents" of what had happened at that April gathering in 2002. You can read this formal letter that They composed as a group in response to the medias response bellow

To Whom It May Concern:

As many readers may have heard, the April 2600 meeting in Chicago was visited by agents from the Federal Bureau of Investigation. Various media outlets have reported on this story and we feel that as attendees of the meeting in question we should clear up some of what occurred that evening.

At approximately 6:00pm CST, between 8 and 10 FBI agents approached the meeting. They showed identification and introduced themselves as FBI agents, and asked us if we wouldn't mind answering a few questions. The 6 to 8 people that were there for the meeting were briefly questioned about their knowledge of Joseph Konopka, a 25 year old resident of Kenosha, Wisconsin who was arrested on March 9th in the steam tunnels underneath the University Of Illinois at Chicago. Konopka, also know as Derailer, Rat, and Dr. Chaos, is accused of storing chemicals in Chicago Transit Authority underground passageways.

Konopka had attended 2600 meetings at Chicago. A few people recall talking to him about steam tunnels that run under different facilities in different locales. He also had questions about other "off limits" places as well, such as abandoned factories, railroad service areas, and sewer and storm drain tunnels. He carried a Toughbook laptop, but other than those characteristics, he acted like a normal 2600 meeting attendee. Somehow the FBI learned about his connection with the Chicago 2600 group, and came to our April meeting looking to see if anyone else had any further information.

The FBI showed respect to the people attending the meeting, and by the same token, those attending cooperated with the FBI as much as possible. The FBI did not take names, check identification, or strong-arm anyone into talking. Those of us who declined to answer certain questions had our wishes respected. They were quick and courteous, and the whole affair lasted no longer that 5 to 10 minutes. The attendees were relaxed and comfortable, and no altercation of any kind took place.

Hopefully, because of this meeting the FBI has a better understanding of the nature of hackers at 2600 meetings, and at the same time, hackers will realize that there are indeed FBI agents capable of using common sense and logic. I cannot stress how non-threatening they were in their treatment of us.

We would hope that in the future if the FBI was in need of our knowledge or assistance they would feel free to contact the Chicago meeting again, as we have stated time and again we are open to everyone. Our FAQ specifically states that any and all members of local, state and federal law enforcement are welcome to attend. We at the Chicago 2600 meeting feel that this was simply a case where the FBI observed unrelated activity, and it was their duty to examine all leads.

Yours Respectfully,

Chicago2600

2005

Jeremy Hammond

Jeremy had caused many problems for the Chicago meetings. His actions include hacking the Chicago2600.net server, accessing an administrator's Gmail account, rooting a local college's network, and causing downtime for the computers at the meeting location.

The Chicago2600 meetings are held at a Boys and Girls Club location on the North side of the city. The administrators of the Chicago2600 website donate their time to keep the donated computer lab up and running for the kids that go to the club. In that time they had improved the network, including providing free wireless internet access to the park behind the club. After the last meeting, the buildings around the club were spraypainted by Jeremy. The following Friday the newspaper The Chicago Reader did an article calling Jeremy "clearly a good hacker". http://www.chicagoreader.com/pdf/050819/050819_cover.pdf

This article Mentions Chicago2600 in Jeremys opinion, basicly said we demonized him, even though he decided to deface public property accross the street from a boys and girls club were the meetings then used to take place