By Elena Giralt
Here are the latest updates from ECC:
The Community Advisory Helios poll closes on Monday, January 27th. Results will be announced on Tuesday, January 28th. You can see the protocol hangout recording here.
Earlier this week, the Blockchain Association announced the creation of a Privacy Working Group, co-chaired by ECC’s Jack Gavigan and Jesse Soslow from Blockstack.
Dates to remember
- Mon, 1/27 – Community Advisory poll closes
- Tues, 1/28 – Zeal monthly community call, register here
- Thurs, 1/30 – Zcon2 registrations open
- Thurs, 2/13 – SHE256 webinar, register here
- Tues, 2/18 – ECC Live Stream, pushed back a week
Community Shout Outs – This new section is to celebrate and highlight the contributions to Zcash made by folks outside of ECC. Ping me if you have suggestions for next week.
- Shout out to ZcashRU for helping me with a network analytics question
- Shout out to Minezcash and Dimitris Apostolou for your constant contributions to Zcash
This week in privacy, Saudi crown prince was linked to Jeff Bezos phone hack. Reuters reports that Apple dropped iCloud encryption plans due to pressure from the FBI.
At the World Economic Forum, Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella said, “Privacy is a human right.” That stands in contrast to surveillance and data sharing efforts that other world leaders are championing at the global summit in Davos. Facial recognition technology is front and center of the global privacy / security debate. The New York Times reported on London’s surveillance program, Clearview AI and the need for better laws for this technology.
Keep an eye on India’s proposed privacy law and how it could impact social media companies, our private messages and local elections. Speaking of elections, Coindesk reported on the Online Trust Audit for 2020 US presidential candidates. For a little bit of good news, check out this nonprofit offering free security services to local campaigns.
In crypto news, imitation is the sincerest form of flattery. Jiang Zhuoer proposes a Zcash-style development fund that would redirect 12.5% of Bitcoin Cash Coinbase block rewards to a community treasury. Bitcoin’s Taproot upgrade, which promises privacy and scalability, also hit a big milestone this week. That’s all for this week. Happy Friday y’all.
