Alexander Paul Klöpping (; born 21 January 1987) is a Dutch internet

entrepreneur Entrepreneurship is the creation or extraction of economic value. With this definition, entrepreneurship is viewed as change, generally entailing risk beyond what is normally encountered in starting a business, which may include other values th ...

specializing in

consumer electronics Consumer electronics or home electronics are electronic (analog or digital) equipment intended for everyday use, typically in private homes. Consumer electronics include devices used for entertainment, communications and recreation. Usually r ...

blog A blog (a truncation of "weblog") is a discussion or informational website published on the World Wide Web consisting of discrete, often informal diary-style text entries (posts). Posts are typically displayed in reverse chronological order ...

ging, and is also a print and online journalist and speaker. Klöpping studies

new media New media describes communication technologies that enable or enhance interaction between users as well as interaction between users and content. In the middle of the 1990s, the phrase "new media" became widely used as part of a sales pitch for ...

at the

University of Amsterdam The University of Amsterdam (abbreviated as UvA, nl, Universiteit van Amsterdam) is a public research university located in Amsterdam, Netherlands. The UvA is one of two large, publicly funded research universities in the city, the other being ...

and is a self-described

nerd A nerd is a person seen as overly intellectual, obsessive, introverted or lacking social skills. Such a person may spend inordinate amounts of time on unpopular, little known, or non-mainstream activities, which are generally either highly tec ...

. He is consulted by Dutch-language media for his expertise. He himself states that his expertise is "relative". Klöpping started an online company, ''The Gadget Company'', at 16 years of age. In 2005, he went to the United States to study, for half a year at a university-oriented to the

Democratic Party Democratic Party most often refers to: *Democratic Party (United States) Democratic Party and similar terms may also refer to: Active parties Africa *Botswana Democratic Party *Democratic Party of Equatorial Guinea *Gabonese Democratic Party *Demo ...

and another half year at one oriented towards the

Republican Party Republican Party is a name used by many political parties around the world, though the term most commonly refers to the United States' Republican Party. Republican Party may also refer to: Africa *Republican Party (Liberia) * Republican Part ...

and participated in

political campaign A political campaign is an organized effort which seeks to influence the decision making progress within a specific group. In democracies, political campaigns often refer to electoral campaigns, by which representatives are chosen or referend ...

s of both parties. He wrote a

thesis A thesis ( : theses), or dissertation (abbreviated diss.), is a document submitted in support of candidature for an academic degree or professional qualification presenting the author's research and findings.International Standard ISO 7144: ...

about the

Barack Obama Barack Hussein Obama II ( ; born August 4, 1961) is an American politician who served as the 44th president of the United States from 2009 to 2017. A member of the Democratic Party, Obama was the first African-American president of the U ...

campaign. Starting in March 2008, he wrote for Dutch financial journalist Jort Kelder's website ''925.nl'', became editor a few months later and stayed in that position until June 2009. He also writes articles for Dutch media Emerce, NU.nl,

NRC Next ''nrc•next'' () was a Dutch daily newspaper published in the Netherlands by Mediahuis. The first edition was released on 14 March 2006. It was stopped in March 2021. ''nrc•next'' was a morning edition tabloid, and its primary target group ar ...

(once every two weeks on Wednesdays),

Vrij Nederland ''Vrij Nederland'' (Free Netherlands) is a Dutch magazine, established during the German occupation of the Netherlands in World War II as an underground newspaper. It has since grown into a magazine. The originally weekly and now monthly magaz ...

, NTR Schooltv and STER Nieuws. Klöpping has been working on Dutch television since 2009. He produced and presented Internet news for ''Bij ons in de BV'' and ''NTR School TV''. He is best known for appearing regularly as a technology expert on the talk show

De Wereld Draait Door ''De Wereld Draait Door'' (; English: "The world keeps on turning") also known by the acronym DWDD was an early-evening talk show on Dutch television, broadcast every weekday at 7:00 p.m. on NPO 1. It is the Netherlands' longest-running, reg ...

. There, he has demonstrated items including the

iPad The iPad is a brand of iOS and iPadOS-based tablet computers that are developed by Apple Inc. The iPad was conceived before the related iPhone but the iPhone was developed and released first. Speculation about the development, operating s ...

and

Kinect Kinect is a line of motion sensing input devices produced by Microsoft and first released in 2010. The devices generally contain RGB cameras, and infrared projectors and detectors that map depth through either structured light or time of flig ...

, and commented on the rise of

social media Social media are interactive media technologies that facilitate the creation and sharing of information, ideas, interests, and other forms of expression through virtual communities and networks. While challenges to the definition of ''social medi ...

WikiLeaks WikiLeaks () is an international Nonprofit organization, non-profit organisation that published news leaks and classified media provided by anonymous Source (journalism), sources. Julian Assange, an Australian Internet activism, Internet acti ...

, the

Anonymous Anonymous may refer to: * Anonymity, the state of an individual's identity, or personally identifiable information, being publicly unknown ** Anonymous work, a work of art or literature that has an unnamed or unknown creator or author * Anonym ...

cyber-attack A cyberattack is any offensive maneuver that targets computer information systems, computer networks, infrastructures, or personal computer devices. An attacker is a person or process that attempts to access data, functions, or other restricted ...

s, and

Facebook Facebook is an online social media and social networking service owned by American company Meta Platforms. Founded in 2004 by Mark Zuckerberg with fellow Harvard College students and roommates Eduardo Saverin, Andrew McCollum, Dustin M ...

privacy policy A privacy policy is a statement or legal document (in privacy law) that discloses some or all of the ways a party gathers, uses, discloses, and manages a customer or client's data. Personal information can be anything that can be used to identif ...

. He is an advisor for Mediafonds and member of the jury on ''TV Lab''. In 2011, he published the book ''Wikileaks, alles wat je niet mocht weten'' ("Wikileaks, everything you weren't allowed to know"). In 2013, he joined the Committee of Recommendation of Dutch whistleblower foundatio
Publeaks
that launched a whistleblowing initiative in September 2013, based on the

GlobaLeaks GlobaLeaks is an open-source, free software intended to enable secure and anonymous whistleblowing initiatives. History The project started on 15 December 2010 and the first software prototype was announced on 6 September 2011. Relevant figure ...

software. In 2013, Klöpping founded the Universiteit van Nederland ("University of the Netherlands"), that organizes and publishes lectures. That year, Klöpping himself taught three classes on the television series ''DWDD University'' about the history, present and future of

Silicon Valley Silicon Valley is a region in Northern California that serves as a global center for high technology and innovation. Located in the southern part of the San Francisco Bay Area, it corresponds roughly to the geographical areas San Mateo County ...

. Klöpping is a co-founder of Blendle, a platform with articles of thirty major Dutch newspapers and magazines. At Blendle, launched in April 2014, readers originally paid per article. In 2019, Blendle switched to a subscription model. In July 2020, Blende was sold to the French news platform Cafeyn. On January 7, 2021, Klöpping announced that he would leave Blendle at the end of that month. Since 2016, he also hosts a podcast "Een podcast over media" ("A podcast about media") with

De Correspondent ''De Correspondent'' is a Dutch news website based in Amsterdam, Netherlands. It was launched on 30 September 2013 after raising more than in a crowdfunding campaign in eight days. The website distinguishes itself by rejecting the daily news ...

co-founder Ernst Jan Pfauth, where they talk about media and technology together.

Publications

* ''WikiLeaks. Alles wat je niet mocht weten'', Prometheus. 2011.

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Klopping, Alexander 1987 births Dutch male bloggers Dutch journalists Dutch television presenters Dutch political commentators Dutch Internet celebrities Living people People from Oss Technology journalists