In brief
- The 7th annual Hackers Congress cypherpunk event will be broadcast live.
- This year's event will play host to a range of speakers including privacy coin Monero maintainer Riccardo Spagni.
- Event organizers have arranged a physical silver coin airdrop to commemorate whistleblower Edward Snowdon.
The 7th annual Hackers Congress, a three-day event gathering cypherpunks, libertarians, hackers, and crypto aficionados, will be broadcast worldwide on the event's new stream service, Hackers Congress Paralelní Polis TV (HCPP TV).
Held in the cryptocurrency-only cafe Paralelní Polis, Prague, the renowned cypherpunk event, which kicks off on October 2, will host a range of speakers including Monero project lead Riccardo Spagni, aka Fluffypony; Trezor founder Alena Vranova; and early cypherpunk and writer Douglas Rushkoff, among several others.
This year's cypherpunk gathering will delve into privacy, focusing primarily on how to safeguard data against databases, drones, and hostile AI in the age of digital totality.
2020 is the year of privacy, Decrypt wrote in January. Since then, the issue has been thrown into even sharper relief by the global coronavirus outbreak. Governments around the world have embarked on a program of mass surveillance, tracking citizens to an extent that’s never been seen before.
Google and Apple are collaborating on a contact tracing app that’s demonstrated just how far their reach into our lives extends. While it’s been done with the best of intentions, there are valid concerns t...
For those unable to make a round trip to Europe, the event will be broadcast over cyberspace via the Hackers Congress' new webcast service.
"We're delighted to be able to launch HCPP TV and deliver HCPP's unique content and thoughtful insights to our community of cypherpunks and activists around the globe," said Event organizer Pavol Luptak. "The previous six congresses have sold out months in advance. The current global situation provides us with the opportunity to open the congress to new audiences that might not otherwise have been able to make it to Prague," he added.
However, for those in attendance, aside from the benefit of making actual human contact, event organizers are conducting a real-life airdrop. One hundred silver commemorative coins will be distributed throughout the duration of the conference. The quasi airdrop has become a tradition for the annual meeting. Each year, a new batch of silver coins, depicting the effigy of a freedom fighter, is designed, produced, and tied to the value of 0.01 BTC.
This year's coin commemorates American whistleblower Edward Snowdon, famed for leaking classified information regarding America's National Security Agency (NSA) surveillance activities in 2013.
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