Financial Cryptography 1997 (FC97): The world's first financial cryptography conference, workshop, and exhibition. CONFERENCE UPDATE: December 13, 1997 (The Banker's Edition...) FC97 is sponsored by: The Journal for Internet Banking and Commerce <http://www.arraydev.com/commerce/JIBC/> Offshore Information Services <http://www.offshore.com.ai/> e$ <http://www.vmeng.com/rah/> FC97 Conference and Exhibition, February 24-28, 1997 FC97 Workshop for Senior Managers and IS Professionals February 17-21, 1997 The Inter-Island Hotel Anguilla, BWI Conference Reservations: <http://www.offshore.com.ai./fc97/> As previously announced, the world's first peer-reviewed conference on financial cryptography, FC97, will be held Monday through Friday, February 24-28, 1997, from 8:30am until 12:30pm, at the Inter-Island Hotel on the Carribbean island of Anguilla. In conjunction with the conference, the Inter-Island Hotel will also be the site of an intensive 40-hour workshop for senior managers and IS professionals during the week preceding the conference (February 17-21), and an exhibition for financial cryptography vendors, from 10am-6pm during the week of the conference itself. The goals of the combined conference, workshop, and exhibition are: -- to provide a peer-reviewed forum for important research in financial cryptography and the effects it will have on society, -- to give senior managers and IS professionals a solid understanding of the fundamentals of strong cryptgraphy as applied to financial operations on public networks, and, -- to showcase the newest products in financial cryptography. In addition, plenty of time has been left open in the afternoon and evening for sponsored corporate functions and activities, for business networking, and, of course, for recreational activities on Anguilla itself. Conference participants are encouraged to bring their families. The Conference Ray Hirschfeld, the conference chair, has picked an outstanding group of professionals and researchers in financial cryptography and in related fields to review the papers for this conference. They are: Chairman: Rafael Hirschfeld, CWI, Amsterdam, The Netherlands Matthew Franklin, AT&T Laboratories--Research, Murray Hill, NJ, USA Michael Froomkin, U. Miami School of Law, Coral Gables, FL, USA Arjen Lenstra, Citibank, New York, NY, USA Mark Manasse, Digital Equipment Corporation, Palo Alto, CA, USA Kevin McCurley, Sandia Laboratories, Albuquerque, NM, USA Charles Merrill, McCarter & English, Newark, NJ, USA Clifford Neuman, Information Sciences Institute, Marina del Rey, CA, USA Sholom Rosen, Citibank, New York, NY, USA Israel Sendrovic, Federal Reserve Bank of New York, New York, NY, USA Some of the names may be recognizable to you. If they're not, included in that list are the inventor of Millicent, the project manager of EU's CAFE digital cash project, the holders of Citicorp's digital cash patent, two famous scholars in cryptography and digital commerce law, the President of International Association for Cryptologic Research, and the Chairman of the Taskforce on the Security of Electronic Money for the G-10 Central Banks. The actual agenda of the conference will be determined by the papers the program committee selects, so we won't have a final schedule for the conference until the middle of January. However, the conference committee is selecting papers in what it considers the union, and not the intersection, of the fields of finance and cryptography. The Final Call for Papers was issued a few weeks ago, and the submission process for papers is now closed. The committee chairman sends his thanks to all of you who submitted papers for consideration. Given the volume of submissions, and the quality of the authors, this inaugural conference should be a very interesting one indeed. To refresh your memory, the program committee solicited papers in the following topic areas: Anonymous Payments Fungibility Authentication Home Banking Communication Security Identification Conditional Access Implementations Copyright Protection Loss Tolerance Credit/Debit Cards Loyalty Mechanisms Currency Exchange Legal Aspects Digital Cash Micropayments Digital Receipts Network Payments Digital Signatures Privacy Issues Economic Implications Regulatory Issues Electronic Funds Transfer Smart Cards Electronic Purses Standards Electronic Voting Tamper Resistance Electronic Wallets Transferability Financial Cryptography '97 is held in cooperation with the International Association for Cryptologic Research. The conference proceedings will be published on the web by the Journal for Internet Banking and Commerce. <http://www.arraydev.com/commerce/JIBC/>. For further information on the submission process, which is, again, now closed, please see the program committee's web-page at <http://www.cwi.nl/conferences/FC97>. As we mentioned before, the conference will be covered by Wired Magazine, and will be the featured conference in it's January 1997 "Deductible Junkets" section. So, if you have already decided to come to FC97, please register and make your plane and hotel reservations as soon as possible. Conference, workshop, and exhibit space is extremely limited. Wired's January issue comes out near the end of December, and we expect there to be something of a rush at that time. The price of a pass to the conference sessions and exhibits is $1,000 U.S. You can pay for your FC97 conference ticket with Visa or MasterCard at the regstriation site: <http://www.offshore.com.ai/fc97/> The price includes breakfast at the conference, some stipends for presenters who need them, and the logistics of having a professional conference with high-bandwidth internet connectivity in a location like Anguilla. In looking around, however, the conference organizers *did* notice that FC97 price is in keeping with other business and professional technology conferences of similar total session length. You can register, and pay for, your conference ticket at: <http://www.offshore.com.ai/fc97/> The Exhibition Concurrent with the conference will be the the FC97 Exhibition, a small trade show for financial cryptography products and services. Each booth will have high bandwidth access to the internet, and will get 2 conference passes. Booth prices start at $5,000 US. Please contact Julie Rackliffe at <mailto: rackliffe@tcm.org> for further information . As space is limited, please register as soon as possible if you plan to be there. The Workshop We are especially honored to have Ian Goldberg as the leader of the FC97 Workshop, which will run one week prior to the conference, February 17-21, 1997. Ian, the cryptographer at Berkeley who was made famous last year (in articles in both the Wall Street Journal and the New York Times) for breaking Netscape's transaction security protocols, will be running an intensive, 5-day workshop for senior managers and technology professionals. Someone likened it to a financial cryptography "boot-camp". While the workshop is still being developed, and will depend on the skills of the planned participants, workshop topics will include, but not be limited to: Overview and background of cryptography Survey of existing and proposed Internet payment systems Details on some specific payment systems Issues involved in setting up a secure Internet site A step-by-step walkthrough of setting up an ecash-enabled Web server. Ian has recruited a strong roster of instructors with credentials similar to his own, and, as he plans to maintain a 5-1 student/teacher ratio, the size of the workshop will be restricted and advance registration will be required. Further information about the workshop can be found at: <http://www.cs.berkeley.edu/~iang/fc97/workshop.html> The planned price for the workshop is $5,000. This covers lab space, hardware, network access, software, and, of course, 40 hours of instruction and structured lab activity. The lab itself will be open 24 hours a day, if demand warrants it. Sponsorship Opportunities FC97 offers sponsorship opportunities at all levels. Corporations are encouraged to to be an exclusive sponsor for lunch or dinner, each of which will be followed by a recreational activity of some kind. Sponsors will have the opportunity to permanently attach their name to these networking functions, which the organizers hope will be a large part of the conference experience. There are 10 such events being planned, and 10 corporations will be accepted for sponsorship. Corporate sponsors of these events will also get a substantial initial discount on exhibit space, and complimentary conference tickets. In-kind sponsorship is also available at all levels of support, with opportunities for companies to provide networking, bandwidth, hardware, radio pocket modems and equipment, as well as design and print services, transportation, and other things. If you've got it and you think we'll need it, please contact us. The sponsorship contact is Julie Rackliffe <mailto: rackliffe@tcm.org>. Air Transportation and Hotels Air travel to Anguilla is typically done through San Juan, St. Thomas or St. Maarten/Martin. There are several non-stop flights a day from various US and European locations. Connection through to Anguilla can be made through American Eagle, or through LIAT. See your travel agent for details. American Eagle Airlines has agreed to increase their flights as needed to accomodate any extra traffic the conference brings to the island. Anguilla's runway is 3600 feet, with a displaced threshold of 600 feet, and can accomodate business jets. Obviously, you should talk to your aviation staff for details about your own aircraft's capabilities in this regard. Anguilla import duties are not imposed on hardware or software which will leave the island again, so, as long as you take it with you when you leave, you won't pay import duties. Hotels range from spartan to luxurious, and more information about hotels on Anquilla can be obtained from your travel agent, or at <http://www.offshore.com.ai/fc97/>. Registration for FC97 Again, to register and pay for your ticket to FC97 see: <http://www.offshore.com.ai/fc97/> For information the selection of papers for at FC97 see: <http://www.cwi.nl/conferences/FC97> If you're interested in Exhibit space, please contact Julie Rackliffe: <mailto:rackliffe@tcm.org> If you're interested in sponsoring FC97, also contact Julie Rackliffe: <mailto:rackliffe@tcm.org> If you're interested in the FC97 Workshop for Senior Managers and IS Professionals, see: <http://www.cs.berkeley.edu/~iang/fc97/workshop.html> That should be enough for now. Stay tuned for more information on FC97 as it develops. See you in Anguilla! The FC97 Organizing Committee: Vince Cate and Bob Hettinga, General Chairs Ray Hirschfeld, Conference Chair Ian Goldberg, Workshop Chair Julie Rackliffe, Conference, Exhibit, and Sponsorship Manager And our sponsors... The Journal for Internet Banking and Commerce <http://www.arraydev.com/commerce/JIBC/> Offshore Information Services <http://www.offshore.com.ai/> e$ <http://www.vmeng.com/rah/> ----------------- Robert Hettinga (rah@shipwright.com) e$, 44 Farquhar Street, Boston, MA 02131 USA "The cost of anything is the foregone alternative" -- Walter Johnson The e$ Home Page: http://www.vmeng.com/rah/