EUROPEAN BITCOIN CONFERENCE 2011, PRAGUE NOV 25-27

[mizerydearia]

http://willyou.typewith.me/p/euroconf_typos

Feel free to help correct any mistakes. ^_^

Currently

Venue
The European Bitcoin Conference 2011 is being held at the City Conference Center in The Blue Hall.  There will be a free wireless Internet connection for all participants, and lunch and coffee breaks will be catered for.

Price
165 euros payable in bitcoins or by wire transfer (select during registration)

Amir Taaki
Amir Taaki is co-founder of the London-based Bitcoin Consultancy(no comma here) as well as a Bitcoin developer.  He wrote the original currency exchange software Intersango, the stock exchange client (name?), bitcoin poker software and an end-user graphical user interface for Bitcoin.  Prior to working with Bitcoin, Amir programmed video games and has ten years of experience writing open-source software.  Now he's working on the Bitcoin Consultancy rewrite of Bitcoin: libbitcoin which will enable B?itcoin to scale and people to quickly (-start) build(-ing) Bitcoin applications.
Read more here... (link?)

Rick Falkvinge
Rick Falkvinge is the founder of the first Pirate Party and a campaigner for next-generation civil liberties and sensible information policy.  In particular, he stresses how the copyright industries work in collusion with Big Brother hawks to erode or eliminate the parts of Internet that guarantee our civil liberties.  At the end of May 2011, he announced that he would invest all his savings into bitcoins.  He even took a loan to buy more bitcoins.  He has been listed as one of the 100 most influential people in Sweden by the Fokus magazine.
Read more here...(link?)

Vladimir Marchenko
Vladimir Marchenko runs one of the largest private Bitcoin mining operations in the UK, and probably the world, under Marchenko Ltd.  He is the founder of bitcoin.org.uk and a distributor and service provider for Bitcoin mining rigs.  He is known as an author of the p2p websites FileDonkey and Figator, had run a FIDO node in Russia in the early 90(no apostrophe)s, worked for the Russian Ministry of Defence and for companies such as Coca-Cola, Pipex, Ebuyer and also founded and ran a number of private companies in the UK.
Read more here...(link?)

Max Keiser
Max Keiser is a TV presenter, radio host, entrepreneur, broadcaster and journalist.  He is a former Wall Street broker, the inventor of the virtual specialist technology / prediction markets, Hollywood Stock Exchange, Karmabanque(no comma) and Pirate MyFilm (PMF).
Read more here...(link?)

David G.W.Birch
David G.W. Birch is a Director of Consult Hyperion, the IT management consultancy that specialises in electronic transactions.  Here he provides specialist consultancy support to clients around the world including all of the leading payment brands, major telecommunications providers, government(no s) bodies and international organisations including the OECD.
Read more: http://www.dgwbirch.com/DGWB/Biography.html

Jim Burton
Jim Burton is the lead developer of MultiBit.  For the previous ten years he has worked using Java at financial software houses including Banctec and Infor.  He now works full-time on MultiBit doing his part in bringing Bitcoin to everyone.

Clemens Cap
Clemens Cap is a professor of information and communication services at the University of Rostock.  His current research interests focus on distributed systems and their application to secure and privatize content dissemination.  Being particularly proud of this "the proof is more of a nerd than the students" feedback once earned in a Web 2.0 class he is currently analysing Bitcoin and other completely decentralized architectures from a technical point of view as well as with the aim to understand their impact on society.

Stefan Thomas aka justmoon, creator of the WeUseCoins.com

Jason Chia is a member of Bitcoin Consultancy and a barrister in the UK specialising in corporate law.

Payments
You can pay with:
Bitcoins: If you want to pay with bitcoins, please send an email with your name to

[1715503754]

1715503754

[1715503754]

1715503754

[1715503754]

1715503754

[1715503754]

1715503754

[worldly]

Help bring Vili Lehdonvirta to the conference, accused of being Satoshi by the New Yorker Magazine

http://vili.lehdonvirta.com

Here is his take on the the conference:

I am fascinated by Bitcoin, and I also think I have something of value to contribute to the Bitcoin community. The first is that as a researcher, I have studied payment and digital currency design and user adoption issues, and I think this is an area where the Bitcoin ecosystem could do better. The second is that as a long-time member of Electronic Frontier Finland, I have spent a lot of time thinking and publically debating about privacy and digital freedom issues. I am worried that Bitcoin is a step too far as it leaves no possibility for even democratic governments to enforce their laws. This is a topic I would love to debate with the community and hear opposing views. I think the end result could be a better understanding for me, but also a better understanding for the Bitcoin community on how to live in harmony with democratic authority.

If you can donate some bitcoins to help cover cost of travel it would be appreciated
12n1VQq7kfH18iP74cCYQ2cMwKZZodZr8S

[mizerydearia]

Help bring Vili Lehdonvirta to the conference, accused of being Satoshi by the New Yorker Magazine

http://vili.lehdonvirta.com

Here is his take on the the conference:

I am fascinated by Bitcoin, and I also think I have something of value to contribute to the Bitcoin community. The first is that as a researcher, I have studied payment and digital currency design and user adoption issues, and I think this is an area where the Bitcoin ecosystem could do better. The second is that as a long-time member of Electronic Frontier Finland, I have spent a lot of time thinking and publically debating about privacy and digital freedom issues. I am worried that Bitcoin is a step too far as it leaves no possibility for even democratic governments to enforce their laws. This is a topic I would love to debate with the community and hear opposing views. I think the end result could be a better understanding for me, but also a better understanding for the Bitcoin community on how to live in harmony with democratic authority.

If you can donate some bitcoins to help cover cost of travel it would be appreciated
12n1VQq7kfH18iP74cCYQ2cMwKZZodZr8S

I recommend also to consider Neal King, Vladimir Oksman and Charles Bry.

[wareen]

I recommend also to consider Neal King, Vladimir Oksman and Charles Bry.

Great idea - that way we could be pretty sure to have the real Satoshi on board! You could make a contest on Sunday, with each of them explaining why they did not invent Bitcoin and let the audience decide on who gave the least convincing speech - winning him an "I am Satoshi Nakamoto" T-shirt

On a more serious note: Vili Lehdonvirta would surely be an interesting guest for a talk or a panel discussion - I just hope that there is still enough time for each of the speakers!

[matsh]

I recommend also to consider Neal King, Vladimir Oksman and Charles Bry.

Great idea - that way we could be pretty sure to have the real Satoshi on board! You could make a contest on Sunday, with each of them explaining why they did not invent Bitcoin and let the audience decide on who gave the least convincing speech - winning him an "I am Satoshi Nakamoto" T-shirt

Too late! At the NYC Bitcoin conference I bought a T-shirt with the text "I am Satoshi".

:-)

Mats

[giszmo]

Now that Bitcoin is dead, Satoshi could really step up

[matonis]

Seriously. Come on! Do not be fooled by Vili Lehdonvirta and his viewpoints on bitcoin above regarding democratic governments. Here are some of his twitter thoughts (below). While it's genuinely a good thing to have debate about digital currencies and the law, it is a waste of time for bitcoin because the nature of the bitcoin currency is antithetical to governments and regulation and centralized control over what transactions are made and/or identified. Bitcoin is not a project to debate the dilution of bitcoin decentralization, bitcoin anonymity, or bitcoin untraceability.

This would be like inviting the CIA or FBI or US Treasury to debate. Who really fuckin' cares? What's at stake for forward-looking bitcoin proponents is the robustness of the transaction offerings and the stability and pervasiveness of the global exchanger network.

ViliLe Vili Lehdonvirta
What matters to authorities is what you can do with it, not whether it's made of bits, paper or gold.
5 Oct

ViliLe Vili Lehdonvirta
Not sure I agree with that. e-Gold dealt in commodity, yet they were prosecuted. Security is a contract, a promise, which Bitcoin is not.
5 Oct

ViliLe Vili Lehdonvirta
"Bitcoin is in a [legal] gray area, because we don't know whether it's a currency, a commodity like gold,or a security" nyr.kr/qMTZGL
5 Oct

[genjix]

I would love to invite the CIA or FBI to debate bitcoin!

That would be incredible. Let the world see our arguments in the open based on individual merit!

More openness to alternative viewpoints in the community please. Lets not stop challenging ourselves otherwise we will become dogmatic cultists repeating each others inbred lines. Vili represents a significant proportion of society who thinks along his lines. We can build a bridge to them.

You won't win people over by shutting them out or fighting them. Bitcoin is an inclusive thing, and there is no reason why everybody can't be accommodated. There is an enormous potential with Bitcoin for huge positive social good. And a whole lot more than mere anonymity and anti-authoritarianism.

By not being willing to also demonstrate the other aspects that make bitcoin so amazing, we are handing a victory to the naysayers who argue that bitcoin is a way for drug traffickers, criminals, terrorists and paedophiles to evade the law. Bitcoin is MUCH MORE than that.

It is something that will transform culture on the internet with funding models previously unimagined due to the simplicity, the divisibility and the extensible scripting system. It is a system that will weaken international borders and bring about an egalitarian inter-connected future for economics, how the internet transformed knowledge-transfer for information.

[matonis]

I would love to invite the CIA or FBI to debate bitcoin!

That would be incredible. Let the world see our arguments in the open based on individual merit!

More openness to alternative viewpoints in the community please. Lets not stop challenging ourselves otherwise we will become dogmatic cultists repeating each others inbred lines. Vili represents a significant proportion of society who thinks along his lines. We can build a bridge to them.

You are still missing the point. Bitcoin was invented/designed to route around the intrusive regulatory aspects of central planning for monetary systems. That will never change. Of course, no one has stopped challenging themselves, but it is immature to think that you can adapt the bitcoin cryptocurrency into something suitable for the Statist apologists like Vili and the other significant portion of society that you cite. No one cares -- it's a distraction and red herring diverting attention away from more serious discussions (at this conference and any other forum). Have a conference on "Should Bitcoin Exist?" if that's what you want to discuss. Furthermore, you don't understand the essence of bitcoin if you believe that dismissing legal conformity and moving beyond it is "dogmatic" and "inbred".

Bitcoin exchanges are constantly under attack in various parts around the globe. Let's truly take your suggestion and "challenge ourselves" on creating decentralized exchanges and creating business models and paradigms that make fitting into the current institutional structure irrelevant. It is a perpetually losing battle to seek minor legal victories within the confines of an arbitrary, subjective court system.

[EhVedadoOAnonimato]

Great post, matonis.

[Portnoy]

I would love to invite the CIA or FBI to debate bitcoin!

That would be incredible. Let the world see our arguments in the open based on individual merit!

More openness to alternative viewpoints in the community please. Lets not stop challenging ourselves otherwise we will become dogmatic cultists repeating each others inbred lines. Vili represents a significant proportion of society who thinks along his lines. We can build a bridge to them.

You are still missing the point. Bitcoin was invented/designed to route around the intrusive regulatory aspects of central planning for monetary systems. That will never change. Of course, no one has stopped challenging themselves, but it is immature to think that you can adapt the bitcoin cryptocurrency into something suitable for the Statist apologists like Vili and the other significant portion of society that you cite. No one cares -- it's a distraction and red herring diverting attention away from more serious discussions (at this conference and any other forum). Have a conference on "Should Bitcoin Exist?" if that's what you want to discuss. Furthermore, you don't understand the essence of bitcoin if you believe that dismissing legal conformity and moving beyond it is "dogmatic" and "inbred".

Bitcoin exchanges are constantly under attack in various parts around the globe. Let's truly take your suggestion and "challenge ourselves" on creating decentralized exchanges and creating business models and paradigms that make fitting into the current institutional structure irrelevant. It is a perpetually losing battle to seek minor legal victories within the confines of an arbitrary, subjective court system.

Being belligerent and flaunting oneself as a direct threat to the status quo I don't think will be helpful for Bitcoin acceptance.
And if you are not interested in such acceptance than that would be "inbred" and all that genjix was saying, which I agree with.

[Ashkelon]

I would love to invite the CIA or FBI to debate bitcoin!

Err no, however I would love to have an open panel discussion with some central bankers

[wareen]

You are still missing the point. Bitcoin was invented/designed to route around the intrusive regulatory aspects of central planning for monetary systems.

Bitcoin itself is a tool and even if the rules of Bitcoin are pretty much set in stone, the way we deal with it as individuals and as a society can make for an interesting discussion.

I personally don't see a big problem if a hypothetical democratic government required businesses in its jurisdiction to accept Bitcoin payments only through a pool of officially registered Bitcoin addresses to enforce tax laws (as I mentioned in this thread).
The same hypothetical government could also have some control over the amount of Bitcoins in circulation by building up a currency reserve from taxes collected in BTC.

These are of course extremely speculative ideas, but discussing ways in which Bitcoin can fit into existing legal and governmental structures is certainly not a bad thing all by itself.

The nice thing is that everybody is free to use Bitcoin as they like and not everybody who likes this freedom wants to dismantle or undermine the courts and governments of this world at the same time. Even part-time revolutionists can find a home in the Bitcoin world

[jimbobway]

There is a professor that went to a Senate hearing in front of Ron Paul that wanted the U.S. to allow competing currencies including bitcoin.  He seems to be a good candidate for a speaker.

[matonis]

Some fun facts for those that may not yet know:

Vili Lehdonvirta advocates regulation: "A New Frontier in Digital Content Policy: Case Studies in the Regulation of Virtual Goods and Artificial Scarcity"  http://www.hiit.fi/~vlehdonv/documents/Lehdonvirta-2010-virtual-goods-regulation.pdf

"We are working with the government to make sure indeed the long arm of the government can reach Bitcoin"
Jeff Garzik, Bitcoin Developer  http://rulingclass.wordpress.com/2011/06/09/bitcoin-and-agorism/

Donald Norman, the co-founder of Bitcoin Consultancy,  advocates for Bitcoin's regulation, according to CNBC. "Norman is pushing to bring Bitcoin away from its roots and closer to a traditional currency — he is reaching out to regulators, looking to get legislation to oversee the system," says CNBC.  http://www.economicpolicyjournal.com/2011/06/this-is-what-will-really-crash-bitcoin.html?spref=tw

"In the UK, supporters of Bitcoin made an urgent appeal to the Financial Services Authority to regulate the largest London-based exchange, so as to reassure people that using Bitcoin is safe. "Unregulated businesses don't usual cry out for regulation," said Donald Norman, co-founder of the exchange Britcoin. "But because we are unusual, and because we are dealing with people's money, and because of all the scary stories around Bitcoin, we would like nothing more than to have a government authority looking into our accounts – especially now."  http://www.independent.co.uk/news/business/news/hack-attack-pushes-bitcoin-to-the-brink-2300384.html

Amir goes for bitcoin regulation (on national radio program):  http://www.katherinealbrecht.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=3768:sat-june-25-2011&catid=20:show-archives&Itemid=44

[mizerydearia]

regulation:
onelook
uncyclopedia
urbandictionary

kind of related

Note: Without regulation of at least one body (even nongovernmental), ...  insert stuff here  ...

[EhVedadoOAnonimato]

Some fun facts for those that may not yet know:

....

"Fun"?? You, sir, have a bitter sense of irony.

[worldly]

I recommend also to consider Neal King, Vladimir Oksman and Charles Bry.

Great idea - that way we could be pretty sure to have the real Satoshi on board! You could make a contest on Sunday, with each of them explaining why they did not invent Bitcoin and let the audience decide on who gave the least convincing speech - winning him an "I am Satoshi Nakamoto" T-shirt

On a more serious note: Vili Lehdonvirta would surely be an interesting guest for a talk or a panel discussion - I just hope that there is still enough time for each of the speakers!

That would be great, ill try and get in touch.

We have plenty of time for speakers, it wont be a problem.

[worldly]

Update: New speaker confirmed and we just about have a full line up.  We are heading over to Prague today to make sure everything runs smoothly, if you are in the neighbourhood get in touch.


New Speaker: Cameron Garnham

Cameron Garnham is a partner at TiguSoft.pl a company focused on
bringing Open Transactions infrastructure to the bitcoin economy. He
passionately believes that the centralisation of the banking and
financial industry is a key reason for its ongoing failure.
Cameron is an experienced advocate for technological solutions such as
Open Transactions and Bitcoin, which enable people to be in control of
their own finances.

[matsh]

How do I get a discount to the hotel? I have booked the flight, just hotel and conference left to pay.