Many years ago a friend who is well respected within the security community told me he was going to RSA on a press pass. “It’s free, easy and I don’t really like the conference” he explained as I asked why he did not just register to be a speaker as usual.

I suspected that he was getting some sort of weird satisfaction from getting free access through a legitimate channel, like a soft hack. Perhaps he could argue he was actually doing some press work by being so active in the security community, while at the same time no one really considered him a member of the press.

Since I will be presenting at RSA this year, or to be more accurate “leading” a peer-to-peer session, I get a full conference pass for free. But the thought did cross my mind to use the “FOR PRESS” method…

BTW, this is not just a phenomenon for RSA but any conference you might be interested in attending. The bar to prove press credentials is not terribly high:

Press credentials are restricted to press and industry research analysts who provide a business card with an editorial title, a current masthead that includes their name and a sample of a bylined article or industry-related report published within the past six months. Bloggers are subject to the same press registration process as all other media, and registration will be judged based the credibility of the blog. Information such as the focus of the blog, the longevity of the blog, frequency of updates, Technorati ratings and number of page views will be taken into consideration.

Or maybe it is just high enough?