While the airlines struggle, tourism reels and businesses tighten their belts painfully, one of the less-noticed casualties of the September 11th attacks in the US is the conference circuit.

Pity the organisers of major industry conferences scheduled for the weeks following the attacks who now are facing into mass cancellations both by attendees wary of flying and exhibitors worried about justifying large expenditures.

The European version of the biggest technology security event, the RSA conference, is one such casualty.

In Silicon Valley the event had inflated to accommodate thousands of participants in recent years and it spun off the European conference with much fanfare last year.

This year's event, pencilled in for October 15th-18th in Amsterdam, has been pulled, but only kind of.

In a demonstration of creativity - and an attempt to actually use technology rather than talk about it - RSA Europe is going online, for free.

All the presentations will be webcast.

Wanna go? Visit www.rsaconference.com/rsa 2001/europe/.