Caesars Palace not-so-Praetorian guards intimidate DEF CON goers, seize soldering irons

Enlarge / This sign is an invitation for a room search at some Las Vegas hotels. (credit: Getty Images)

In the wake of the mass shooting in Las Vegas in October of 2017, hotels in the city started drafting more aggressive policies regarding security. Just as Caesars Entertainment was rolling out its new security policies, the company ran head on into DEF CON-an event with privacy tightly linked to its culture.

The resulting clash of worlds-especially at Caesars Palace, the hotel where much of DEF CON was held-left some attendees feeling violated, harassed, or abused, and that exploded onto Twitter this past weekend.

Caesars began rolling out a new security policy in February that mandated room searches when staff had not had access to rooms for over 24 hours. Caesars has been mostly tolerant of the idiosyncratic behavior of the DEF CON community, but it's not clear that the company prepared security staff for dealing with the sorts of things they would find in the rooms of DEF CON attendees. Soldering irons and other gear were seized, and some attendees reported being intimidated by security staff.

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