At the core of BlueYard is the belief that the internet should be a space for permissionless innovation and freedom of expression. The current internet of gatekeepers and data vulnerabilities puts this at risk.

This dialogue is of course not new — but it has largely been held in the context of policy and regulation. It should also be held in the context of new web protocols and technology stacks — a conversation with the entrepreneurs re-wiring and upgrading the internet for openness, decentralization and data safety.

When we decided a few months ago to get a few people in a room that are on a mission to build a better internet we did not know it would end up involving many of the pioneers in the space flying in from all around the world and include Edward Snowden joining us via video for a conversation and Q&A (more on how you can submit questions below) to wrap up the day. But here we are — looking forward to enabling a dialogue and debate between entrepreneurs, thinkers and investors on the technologies that matter for the future of the internet and its impact on society.

Decentralized & Encrypted: Preliminary Agenda

To ensure intimate and high quality conversations we regret we have to restrict attendance to only 150 people — but all talks and panels will be available on YouTube after the event.

We would also like to involve the folks that we could not accommodate due to capacity constraints in our open conversation with Edward Snowden, a passionate advocate of “encoding our values not just in writing but in the code and structure of the Internet.” So how do you think we should reflect our values in code? How do we upgrade the internet for decentralization, openness and data safety? Submit your questions and thoughts by either tweeting to us @blueyard and using the hashtag #upgradetheinternet or dropping us a note at team@blueyard.com — we’ll make sure to include the best submissions in our conversation.

We look forward to seeing all of you & many more in Berlin: AdBlock Plus, Backfeed, BigchainDB, Blockstack Labs, Blokur, Bloomberg, Consensys, The DAO, Deepstream, DST, The Economist, Electronic Frontier Foundation, ERIS, Ethcore, Ethereum, InterPlanetary File System (IPFS), Lightning, Lisk, Mailpile, MIT Media Lab, The New York Times, Plag, Slock.IT, storj, Synereo, Tendermint, Tor Project, Union Square Ventures, Qubes OS, Zcash, Zenmate, …