Applying Blockchain Technologies for Social Impact

Monday, April 3, 2017 12:10 PM - 1:10 PM

Blockchain technology is all the rage right now, sometimes it seems for all the wrong reasons. Putting aside the cryptocurrency hype, what are real-world benefits for greater transparency, auditing, and corruption-fighting in the major systems of the world? Can it help fight conflict diamonds, slave labor, illegal fish catches, food supply crises, censorship, and other global issues? Or is all just a libertarian pipe dream. Brian Behlendorf will talk about real-world projects in this space, and the limits inherent to the technology.

About the speaker: Brian Behlendorf is the Executive Director of Hyperledger Project. Behlendorf was a primary developer of the Apache Web server, the most popular web server software on the Internet, and a founding member of the Apache Software Foundation. He has also served on the board of the Mozilla Foundation since 2003 and the Electronic Frontier Foundation since 2013. He was the founding CTO of CollabNet and CTO of the World Economic Forum. Most recently, Behlendorf was a managing director at Mithril Capital Management LLC, a global technology investment firm. Twitter handle: @brianbehlendorf

Lunch will be available.

Please RSVP.

For additional information about this event contact Lara J. Nettelfield, Institute for the Study of Human Rights, at ljn9@columbia.edu