I've been going to DefCon for many years and the hak5 merch booth is the first stop for all newcomers (myself included). Long lines and people handing over fists-full of cash.
Seems like they get a big chunk of their yearly revenue from Defcon sales. Makes sense as I bet a lot of hackers might just want to do an in person transaction and this is the perfect opportunity to do so.
Totally! Cash only, no CC trail or delivery address. I lived in Charlotte NC for a brief period and I bought some lock picks from a "spy outlet" store in a mall. They scanned my driver's license and said they needed to keep it on file for a year. This was ... 1992 maybe? Yikes today.
