Away from the elegance of Budapest's historic centre, a dingy rock venue has been turned into a geek's paradise. The laptop screens glow in the dim light as fingers flicker quickly over keyboards. Lines of code, incomprehensible to all but the cognoscenti, are typed out.
This is Hacktivity - an annual conference for hackers. They've come in their hundreds from all over eastern Europe and beyond. The organisers have set up two days of workshops, talks, and games so the hackers can hone their skills. In one game, the players have to race to break into a computer application designed to censor websites.

Illegal? Not here. The company that made the technology is actually here to oversee its vandalism. Cisco Systems, McAfee, Symantec ... some of the biggest names in computer security are at Hacktivity to court the hackers. Their branding is all over this event.

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