NSA And Aaron Swartz Hot Topics At Hacking Conferences

Published August 1, 2013 at 1:45 PM EDT

Army General Keith Alexander, head of the National Security Agency delivers a keynote address at the Black Hat hacker conference on Wednesday, July 31, 2013, in Las Vegas. (Isaac Brekken/AP)

Two tech conferences in Las Vegas — Def Con and Black Hat — have brought together hackers from all over the world.

Yesterday the director of the National Security Agency, Gen. Keith Alexander, spoke at Black Hat to a sometimes hostile crowd.

And an internal report by MIT earlier this week found no wrongdoing by the school in the case of Internet activist Aaron Swartz.

These two things have given attendees at the conference a lot to talk about.

Guest

Steve Henn, technology correspondent for NPR. He tweets @HennsEggs.

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