Georg Apenes
Encyclopedia
Norway
Norway , officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic unitary constitutional monarchy whose territory comprises the western portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula, Jan Mayen, and the Arctic archipelago of Svalbard and Bouvet Island. Norway has a total area of and a population of about 4.9 million...
jurist
Jurist
A jurist or jurisconsult is a professional who studies, develops, applies, or otherwise deals with the law. The term is widely used in American English, but in the United Kingdom and many Commonwealth countries it has only historical and specialist usage...
.
Career
Having finished secondary education, he briefly worked as a substitute school teacher in his hometown in 1960 before entering Franklin and Marshall College as a part of the Fulbright ProgramFulbright Program
The Fulbright Program, including the Fulbright-Hays Program, is a program of competitive, merit-based grants for international educational exchange for students, scholars, teachers, professionals, scientists and artists, founded by United States Senator J. William Fulbright in 1946. Under the...
. He studied there for a year before being enrolled in the Norwegian officers' training school. He finished his studies in 1969, when he graduated with the cand.jur. degree from the University of Oslo
University of Oslo
The University of Oslo , formerly The Royal Frederick University , is the oldest and largest university in Norway, situated in the Norwegian capital of Oslo. The university was founded in 1811 and was modelled after the recently established University of Berlin...
. While studying in Oslo he had been chairman of the Norwegian Students' Society during the student-led Protests of 1968
Protests of 1968
The protests of 1968 consisted of a worldwide series of protests, largely participated in by students and workers.-Background:Background speculations of overall causality vary about the political protests centering on the year 1968. Some argue that protests could be attributed to the social changes...
.
He then went to Vest-Telemark
Vest-Telemark
The Vest-Telemark traditional district of Norway comprises the upper and western areas of the county of Telemark. The region consists of six municipalities: Fyresdal, Tokke, Vinje, Nissedal, Kviteseid and Seljord....
to work as a deputy judge. While stationed there, he chaired the local Conservative Party chapter in Kviteseid
Kviteseid
Kviteseid is a municipality in Telemark county, Norway. It is part of the traditional region of Vest-Telemark. The administrative centre of the municipality is the village of Kviteseid...
from 1970 to 1971. He was given a lawyer's license in 1971, but instead became a journalist for his hometown newspaper Fredriksstad Blad
Fredriksstad Blad
Fredriksstad Blad is the biggest local newspaper in Fredrikstad, Norway. Having a rivalry with Demokraten, it is published six days a week. The chief editor is Erling Johannes Omvik....
. After one year he was promoted to subeditor. He stayed in this job until 1977.
In 1977
Norwegian parliamentary election, 1977
-Results:...
he was elected to the Parliament of Norway from Østfold
Østfold
is a county in southeastern Norway, bordering Akershus and southwestern Sweden , while Buskerud and Vestfold is on the other side of the bay. The seat of the county administration is Sarpsborg, and Fredrikstad is the largest city.Many manufacturing facilities are situated here. Moss and...
constituency. He was later re-elected in 1981
Norwegian parliamentary election, 1981
-Results:...
and 1985
Norwegian parliamentary election, 1985
A general election to the Storting, the parliament of Norway, was held on 9 September 1985.-Results:...
to serve two more terms. Unlike many national politicians, Apenes never held elected positions in local politics.
He was not re-elected to a fourth parliamentary term in 1989; instead he was appointed the new director of the Norwegian Data Inspectorate
Norwegian Data Inspectorate
The Norwegian Data Inspectorate is Norwegian Government agency responsible for managing the Personal Data Act of 2000, concerning privacy concerns...
when Helge Seip
Helge Seip
Helge Seip was a Norwegian politician for the Liberal Party and later the Liberal People's Party.He was born in Surnadal. At a young age he became involved in the Young Liberals, the youth wing of the Liberal Party. In the local chapter of Oslo he was a member of the board from 1937 to 1939, and...
reached the age limit of 70 years and stepped down. As director of the Data Inspectorate, Apenes has made a mark in the political debate as a defender of privacy
Privacy
Privacy is the ability of an individual or group to seclude themselves or information about themselves and thereby reveal themselves selectively...
. He has opposed the European Union Directive 2006/24/EC. When commenting on Internet privacy
Internet privacy
Internet privacy involves the right or mandate of personal privacy concerning the storing, repurposing, providing to third-parties, and displaying of information pertaining to oneself via the Internet. Privacy can entail both Personally Identifying Information or non-PII information such as a...
, Apenes deplored the indifference with which people disseminate personally identifiable information
Personally identifiable information
Personally Identifiable Information , as used in information security, is information that can be used to uniquely identify, contact, or locate a single person or can be used with other sources to uniquely identify a single individual...
. He added that the dystopies described by Aldous Huxley
Aldous Huxley
Aldous Leonard Huxley was an English writer and one of the most prominent members of the famous Huxley family. Best known for his novels including Brave New World and a wide-ranging output of essays, Huxley also edited the magazine Oxford Poetry, and published short stories, poetry, travel...
"are probably not that far away". He stepped down in April 2010. Until his successor Bjørn Erik Thon
Bjørn Erik Thon
Bjørn Erik Thon is a Norwegian jurist and ombudsman.He graduated as cand.jur. in 1989. From 1999 to 2000, during the first cabinet Bondevik Thon worked as a political advisor in the Ministry of Justice and the Police. He has been a member of Grefsen-Kjelsås borough council for the Liberal Party...
was named in late May, Ove Skåra was acting director.
Georg Apenes has authored several books, with topics spanning from monographies on political themes and analysis of political parties to festchrifts and amateur history. In addition, he has written columns in the newspapers Fredriksstad Blad, Stavanger Aftenblad
Stavanger Aftenblad
Stavanger Aftenblad or simply Aftenbladet is a daily newspaper in Stavanger, Norway. It was founded in 1893 by the priest Lars Oftedal, and was for a long period a publication for the Liberal Party. It had a circulation of 68,186 copies in 2005...
, Dagens Næringsliv
Dagens Næringsliv
Dagens Næringsliv, commonly known as DN, is a Norwegian tabloid specializing in business reporting with a claimed daily circulation of 82,775 copies in 2008, making it the 8th largest newspaper in Norway. The editor in chief is Amund Djuve. Its name is Norwegian for "Today's Business".Originally...
and A-Magasinet.