Misunderstanding cleared up: we are not dangerous...

• Original press release (May 23rd) (english)
• Het oorspronkelijke persbericht (23 mei) (nederlands)
• Ursprüngliche Pressemitteilung (23. Mai) (deutsch)
  

• Communication log
• Coverage of this issue elsewhere
  

June 8th

Good News (tm): What the Hack is going on!

Ladies and Gentlemen, grab your tissues to wipe away the tears of joy! As it turns out, it was indeed all a giant misunderstanding. The Boxtel story seems to have come to a happy ending. The mayor and everyone have been informally telling us we'll get the permit. Yesterday he even started telling various journalists we will get our permit. Like with any other permit there's still the usual paperwork and details to be worked out, but we meet all the requirements for the permit. We expect to hold the black-on-white version of the permit in our hands very soon. We feel this is the appropriate moment to replace the question mark with an exclamation mark and declare it a go.

There is absolutely no doubt in our minds that it was all of you that made the vital difference in clearing up this unfortunate misunderstanding. We feel strengthened by the broad outcry, and it's great to know that we have so many friends and supporters. Now it is most important that we start looking forward. We simply have no time to be angry about this or to keep making an issue out of it. Unless this misunderstanding that we as a group are somehow dangerous rears its ugly head again, none of this will be a main theme for What The Hack. The world is in turmoil, much more important things are happening and we need to use our little gettogether to make a difference.

Please do whatever you can to help us clear up the by now common misunderstanding that What The Hack is not happening.

WHAT THE HACK IS GOING ON!

June 6th

We are not getting lazy or complacent, but I think it is safe to say we will get our permit. Our conversation with police, fire-brigade and environmental authorities went excellently, and all involved from the Boxtel side have informally said we'll get it. It could be as much as a week (or even two) before we hold the actual piece of paper, but suffice it to say very, very weird things would have to happen for us not to get the permit. Given the state of negotiations and the complete and utter lack of reasons to refuse it, the municipaility would be facing huge damages. This permit-thing is no longer a real danger to our event, whereas the general idea that WTH might not happen is. We urge everyone to continue planning whatever it is you're going to do, present or build there.

May 31st

We still lack a statement saying we do not in fact represent a threat to public safety and/or law and order. But things are going very, very well !!

Further telephone calls were made between the municipality and us, finalizing details for this Thursday's meeting. The atmosphere appears to be positively charged.

Meanwhile, more and more support is coming in. Bits Of Freedom, a prominent dutch privacy and civil-rights organization sent a fax to Boxtel yesterday on behalf of their board and advisory board. Over the past week, we have seen local council members in Boxtel, members of parliament from various countries, members of the european parliament, facultity heads of universities, writers as well as a large number of renowned computer security experts, all speaking out in favour of us. Many people took it upon themselves to e-mail or fax the Boxtel municipality, sending us CCs. We certainly have friends in interesting places. Makes us realize we aren't alone.

It's great to be getting all this support. Given that we seem to be getting what we want, it will be an interesting experiment to see if we can divert at least part of the media-attention to some of the real issues at stake: european software patents, freedom of speech on the Internet, whether or not the intellectual property industry owns us all, your right to encrypt your data/communications and the fight against data retention legislation.

May 30th

Late last week, the Boxtel website had a text saying that "Additional information regarding the event has made the mayor decide to look favourably at the application for a permit". People have interpreted this as a clear win. We agree this is a positive sign, but are slightly more cautious.

To make sure the legal proceedings do not hamper progress, we are currently working with the municipality to clear up any issues regarding the 'normal' requirements for an event like this. In a face-to-face meeting this coming Thursday (June 2nd) we will hopefully clear any matters regarding fire regulations, parking and traffic planning and any other issues that might come up. Give the small relative size of our event compared to other events at the same location, we expect no real problems here.

But the main issue, whether or not all of us represent a severe threat to law and order and/or public safety, has not been addressed. As much as we feel this matter is all a misunderstanding, until they clearly tell us that indeed it was, we cannot afford to cancel our day in court just yet.

May 26th 2005, update

We got a reply. Another form letter, and a letter telling us our appeal lacks merit and will be ruled upon without a hearing.

May 26th 2005

Didn't get to entering it yesterday evening (sorry), but we sent a request to the court for the a preliminary judgement. See 'Communication log' at the top if you want to read the request.
We don't want to go to court, we just need to apply now so that we have a court date if and when we need it. We're still confident we can resolve this matter out of court.

May 25th 2005

Quick update: Awfully silent. We're still waiting for the mayor to talk to us. Lots of people seem to think What The Hack will not happen: no worries folks, it takes more to stop us.

May 23rd 2005

(You can help. Read on for details)

We still find it hard to believe, but we have to accept the fact that it is true. The mayor of Boxtel, the municipality under which the location for 'What The Hack' resides, seems to be refusing a permit for our gathering, citing "grave fear that the organisation of this event will endanger law and order as well as public safety".

Previous instances of this event have seen no incidents of any kind. We feel this matter needs public attention to get resolved, and we issued a press statement today.

Here's the letter (in dutch):

(click on it to get a readable version)

A fairly literal (and by no means legally approved) translation would say:

Dear Sir, Madam,

I have received word that you intend to organize an event "What The Hack" from July 28th 2005 through July 31st 2005 on Landgoed Velder in Liempde.

In order to organize such an event, you will need to obtain a permit ex art. 2.2.2. of Boxtel local ordinance 2004.

In light of the fact that there is grave fear that this event will endanger law and order as well as public safety, I, in my capacity as an authorized official, am herewith informing you that I will not issue such a permit.

A copy of this letter will be sent to the owners of the Landgoed Velder estate.

I assume that I have sufficiently informed you.

Yours truly,

MAYOR OF BOXTEL,
J.A.M. van Homelen

We have since mobilised our legal team and communicated with the municipality some more. The entire exchange can be found here, and will be updated as more communication happens.

We're preparing to take this matter to court, and we have strong reasons to believe this will not stand.

What you can do

We issued press releases in english, dutch and german. Maybe you have means at your disposal to get this matter some attention. Please forward the message to any and all journalists you know, both at the corporate and at the alternative media. Put it on your weblog. Talk about it on online forums. If you happen to live or work in Boxtel, talk to people and make sure they understand we're good people and that their mayor seems uninformed. Make sure people understand what we are and aren't all about.

Keep watching this space for news: things should be moving at a fairly high pace for the next few days and weeks.

What you probably shouldn't do

Please remember that for now we assume this is all somehow a big mistake, and if anything, we want to charm the local community of Boxtel. We currently do not believe we have an actual disagreement. We believe instead that the mayor does not understand what kind of event What The Hack is. We do not want to be seen as radical or pushy. Maybe it's an oldfashioned or conservative notion, but we simply feel our community has a right to gather peacefully.

Getting angry or even vindictive towards the mayor, the municipality or anyone else is always counter-productive.

Refunds

Have no fear: What The Hack will happen. Now what comes next hurts to say, but we'd rather say the unspeakable before anyone else does:

Feel secure in the knowledge that in the extremely unlikely event that

1. we will not be allowed to gather near Boxtel
2. we cannot find another location

all ticket fees paid to us will be refunded in full. Period.

In fact: this is your chance to show that it takes more than misinformed public servants to scare you. Buy your ticket today!

Smile

Perhaps most importantly: Don't let all of this get you down: a good mood and a sense of humor have always been powerful weapons.