Updated 11:40am: View more pictures of the HOPE Conference here.

After watching movies like The Net and Hackers, it's pretty scary to see what a human being is capable of hacking into: your personal records, your computer, even government files. So when Product Review Coordinator PJ Jacobowitz told me he was going to a hacker conference, I was a little skeptical. But, I soon learned that the very activity of hacking is needed--not in a bad way of course--but to learn about surveillance and security.

From July 21 to July 23, the HOPE Number 6 (Hackers on Planet Earth) conference was held at The Pennsylvania Hotel in NYC, featuring over 60 one-hour forums. Discussions ranged from "Password Cracking and Time-Memory Tradeoff" and "Lock Picking" to "Law Enforcement Wiretaps" and "Bin Laden, National Intelligence and More".

At the conference, many products were available for purchase, such as "How To" books on hacking everything from your Xbox to your cable modem and Faraday caged wallets that provide protection against attempts to read or copy information from RFID cards.

PJ was fortunate to talk with HOPE's MC, "Lazlow," who is a host of XM Radio's Technofile show, as well as writer and producer for Rockstar Games. To read the interview and more, check out PJ's report.