DefCon speakers guide to #OccupyWallStreet hand signals

Next year, at DefCon (the world's largest hacking conference), speakers are going to be confronted by hand signals (like 'twinkles') that were developed during the #OccupyWallStreet protests. That's because much of the audience will have attended one of the many "Occupy" protests.

So that speakers don't get weirded out by this, I thought I'd write up a brief guide.

Independent reporting of #OccupyWallStreet

I was unhappy with the poor journalistic coverage of the #OccupyWallStreet protests, so I went to Wall Street myself to see what’s going on, and report on it.

It’s the quality of the coverage, not the amount that's the problem. It’s been on the nightly news every night for the past week, but there has been little “serious” reporting.

Brookfield Properties responds re: #OccupyWallStreet

(For my complete report on the protest, click here.)


The #OccupyWallStreet protest is in fact occupying Zuccotti Park, a private park owned by Brookfield Office Properties. I couldn't find an official statement from them on the protest, so I sent an e-mail to their Communications department. This is the e-mail I got in response:

Protesters wanted to get arrested on Brooklyn Bridge

(For my complete report on the protest, click here.)


In the #OccupyWallStreet protests, there are claims that the police deliberately led protesters onto the roadway, and then arrested them for being on the road blocking traffic.

I don't know, I wasn't there.

But I was at a Starbucks near Zuccoti park listening to two protesters (young white mails with facial hair and pony tails) about an hour before the march. They were talking about how they were going to march to the Brooklyn bridge, and how it was going to disrupt traffic, and how that was going to lead to arrests. They laughed at this, hoping it would happen, because "that'll finally get us on the news".

I didn't get the impression that they were planning to go out on the roadway and disrupt traffic. My impression, though, was they knew it was going to happen, probably because that's what happens when you march a few thousand protesters up to the bridge. Indeed, as the protesters later marched by the Starbucks on the way to the Brooklyn bridge, I noticed occasional people get out onto the roadway, and cops telling them to get back onto the sidewalk.

This is my impression of the protesters. They aren't necessarily lawless or violent, but they do seem interested in pushing the police to their limits. Even though they mostly follow police directions, not a single one (that I talked to) thinks of the police as being equally on their side. Whereas I see the police being tolerant of minor infractions, the protesters complained how the police was constantly harassing them over miner infractions. Their view is that if you aren't with them toting a placard, then you must out to oppress them.

As you can see in this video, the crowd is happy that they are getting arrested.

My point is: the accusation that "it's the police's fault" that protesters were out on the road way is pretty hard to believe.

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Update: This NYTimes article describes the incident. It doesn't claim that the police deliberately guided them onto the roadway, but that protesters were confused about where to go.

But, as I indicate above, at least some protesters knew that going onto the roadway would get them arrested.

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Update: This link is a first hand account of somebody that happened to go for a walk with the protesters and got arrested. Before the march:

As we loitered a young woman handed me a flier that described my legal rights and urged me to write down the number of the National Lawyers Guild on my arm.

“You planning on getting arrested today?” I said.

“You never know,” she said.

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Update: Another eyewitness account

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Looking at photographs, I find core occupiers from the Central Committee among those arrested for being on the roadway. These are the people who should've know what would happen, even if most other protesters didn't.

I was just threatened by #OccupyWallStreet protesters

(For my complete report on the protest, click here.)


I was just threatened by #OccupyWallStreet protesters. They told me that if I didn’t give up my seat, there were going to break this computer I’m typing on.