Investigating Teamwork Between Hackers at Panera Bread Locations

In a corner of a Panera Bread store, amid the clatter of dinner plates and orders recited over a warbling sound system, a group of men and a woman gathered last week, laptops open. They threw around terms like "botnets" and "onion routers" with ease, talked about microcontrollers and how to crack into a computer database should the need arise to test their own computer defenses. This is a collection of computer "hackers," creative innovators, pushing the boundaries of technology. And hackers aren't restricting themselves to the virtual computer world anymore.

Some, including members of CT Hackerspace, a mix of about a dozen 20-somethings and older who met at Panera Bread, have banded together with colleagues across the country in enclaves called "hackerspaces."

In rented rooms or old industrial spaces, like-minded hackers are meeting to share information, computing power and equipment while working on projects that can range from testing Internet security to creating clothes illuminated with light-emitting diodes.

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