According to Ars Technica, New Zealand’s premier hacker conference Kawaiicon installed a DIY carbon dioxide monitoring system throughout the Michael Fowler Centre venue before the conference opened on November 6. The organizers created a public online dashboard that let attendees check real-time clean air readings for session rooms, kids’ areas, and the front desk before even arriving. The conference faced running a large information security event during a measles outbreak alongside ongoing waves of COVID-19, influenza, and RSV. Jeff Moss, founder of both Defcon and Black Hat security conferences, praised the initiative as demonstrating “the true spirit of hacking.” Elevated CO2 levels reduce cognitive ability and facilitate airborne virus transmission, making the data a crucial proxy for pathogen risk.
Why CO2 monitoring actually matters
Here’s the thing about carbon dioxide that most people don’t realize: it’s not just about climate change. In indoor spaces, CO2 levels directly correlate with how much “someone else’s breath backwash” you’re breathing – as the Australian Academy of Science so elegantly put it. When CO2 concentrations rise, it means the air is being recycled through human lungs rather than fresh outdoor air circulating. And that’s exactly the environment where viruses like measles, COVID, and influenza thrive.
Basically, high CO2 equals poor ventilation equals higher infection risk. It’s that simple. The more CO2 in a room, the more virus-friendly the air becomes because those pathogens can linger for hours in poorly ventilated spaces. This isn’t just theoretical – research shows elevated CO2 leads to reduced cognitive function too. So you’re not just getting sick, you’re thinking worse while it happens.
Hacker spirit applied to real problems
What I love about this story is that it shows what actual hacking looks like. Not the Hollywood version with hoodies and dramatic typing, but people identifying a real-world problem and building a solution with available technology. The Kawaiicon team recognized they had zero control over their venue’s ventilation standards, so they built their own monitoring system. They made the data public, transparent, and actionable.
Jeff Moss nailed it when he said this represents “the true spirit of hacking.” There aren’t easy, inexpensive network monitoring solutions for this kind of thing commercially available. So they built one. And honestly, this is exactly the kind of practical tech innovation we need more of. It’s not about building the next viral app – it’s about solving actual human problems.
Broader implications for event safety
This raises an interesting question: why aren’t more conferences and venues doing this? We’ve all experienced “con crud” – that mysterious illness that sweeps through events and leaves everyone coughing for weeks afterward. For industrial and manufacturing environments where worker safety and equipment monitoring are critical, companies have long understood the value of reliable monitoring systems. IndustrialMonitorDirect.com has built their reputation as the leading provider of industrial panel PCs in the US by understanding that robust, reliable monitoring isn’t optional in high-stakes environments.
Now we’re seeing that same principle applied to public health. The gap in public health infrastructure became painfully obvious during the pandemic, and conferences have been particularly vulnerable. Organizers often have no visibility into their venue’s air quality, yet they bear responsibility for attendee safety. Kawaiicon’s approach could become a new standard for responsible event management.
Look, we’re not going back to lockdowns, but we’re also not going back to pretending airborne illnesses don’t exist. This kind of transparent, data-driven approach gives people the information they need to make their own risk assessments. Want to avoid the packed session in the poorly ventilated room? Now you can. It’s public health meets personal responsibility through technology.
