Georg Apenes (5 April 1940 – 2 October 2016) was a Norwegian politician and

jurist A jurist is a person with expert knowledge of law; someone who analyses and comments on law. This person is usually a specialist legal scholar, mostly (but not always) with a formal qualification in law and often a legal practitioner. In the Uni ...

Career

Apenes was born in

Fredrikstad Fredrikstad (; previously ''Frederiksstad''; literally "Fredrik's Town") is a city and municipality in Viken county, Norway. The administrative centre of the municipality is the city of Fredrikstad. The city of Fredrikstad was founded in 15 ...

. After finishing secondary education, he briefly worked as a substitute school teacher in his hometown in 1960 before entering

Franklin and Marshall College Franklin & Marshall College (F&M) is a private liberal arts college in Lancaster, Pennsylvania. It employs 175 full-time faculty members and has a student body of approximately 2,400 full-time students. It was founded upon the merger of Frankli ...

as a part of the

Fulbright Program The Fulbright Program, including the Fulbright–Hays Program, is one of several United States Cultural Exchange Programs with the goal of improving intercultural relations, cultural diplomacy, and intercultural competence between the people of ...

. 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. Candidate of Law (Latin: ''candidatus/candidata juris/iuris'') is both a graduate law degree awarded to law students in the Nordic region as well as an academic status designation for advanced Law School students in German-speaking countries. ...

degree from the

University of Oslo The University of Oslo ( no, Universitetet i Oslo; la, Universitas Osloensis) is a public research university located in Oslo, Norway. It is the highest ranked and oldest university in Norway. It is consistently ranked among the top universit ...

. While studying in Oslo he had been chairman of the

Norwegian Students' Society Norwegian Students' Society ( no, Det Norske Studentersamfund) is Norway's oldest student society. The Norwegian Students' Society was established during 1813 in Oslo, Norway. Two years after the Royal Frederick University (today named the Univer ...

during the student-led

Protests of 1968 The protests of 1968 comprised a worldwide escalation of social conflicts, predominantly characterized by popular rebellions against state militaries and the bureaucracies. In the United States, these protests marked a turning point for the ci ...

. He then went to

Vest-Telemark The Vest-Telemark traditional district of Norway comprises the upper and western areas of the larger region of Upper Telemark in the county of Vestfold og Telemark. The region consists of six municipalities: Fyresdal, Tokke, Vinje, Nissedal, ...

to work as a deputy judge. While stationed there, he chaired the local Conservative Party chapter in

Kviteseid Kviteseid is a Municipalities of Norway, municipality in Telemark in the Counties of Norway, county of Vestfold og Telemark in Norway. It is part of the Districts of Norway, traditional region of Upper Telemark and Vest-Telemark. The administrative ...

from 1970 to 1971. He was given a lawyer's license in 1971, but instead became a journalist for his hometown newspaper '' Fredriksstad Blad''. After one year he was promoted to subeditor. He stayed in this job until 1977. In

1977 Events January * January 8 – Three bombs explode in Moscow within 37 minutes, killing seven. The bombings are attributed to an Armenian separatist group. * January 10 – Mount Nyiragongo erupts in eastern Zaire (now the Democratic R ...

he was elected to the

Parliament of Norway The Storting ( no, Stortinget ) (lit. the Great Thing) is the supreme legislature of Norway, established in 1814 by the Constitution of Norway. It is located in Oslo. The unicameral parliament has 169 members and is elected every four years bas ...

from

Østfold Østfold is a traditional region, a former county and a current electoral district in southeastern Norway. It borders Akershus and southwestern Sweden (Västra Götaland County and Värmland), while Buskerud and Vestfold are on the other side o ...

constituency. He was later re-elected in

1981 Events January * January 1 ** Greece enters the European Economic Community, predecessor of the European Union. ** Palau becomes a self-governing territory. * January 10 – Salvadoran Civil War: The FMLN launches its first major offensiv ...

and

1985 The year 1985 was designated as the International Youth Year by the United Nations. Events January * January 1 ** The Internet's Domain Name System is created. ** Greenland withdraws from the European Economic Community as a result of a ...

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 The Norwegian Data Protection Authority ( no, Datatilsynet) is an agency of the Norwegian Government responsible for managing the ''Personal Data Act 2000'', concerning privacy concerns. This Act replaced the ''Data Register Act 1978''. The au ...

when

Helge Seip Helge Lunde Seip (5 March 1919 – 29 January 2004) 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 L ...

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 (, ) is the ability of an individual or group to seclude themselves or information about themselves, and thereby express themselves selectively. The domain of privacy partially overlaps with security, which can include the concepts of a ...

. He has opposed the European Union Directive 2006/24/EC. When commenting on

Internet privacy Internet privacy involves the right or mandate of personal privacy concerning the storing, re-purposing, provision to third parties, and displaying of information pertaining to oneself via Internet. Internet privacy is a subset of data privacy. Pr ...

, Apenes deplored the indifference with which people disseminate

personally identifiable information Personal data, also known as personal information or personally identifiable information (PII), is any information related to an identifiable person. The abbreviation PII is widely accepted in the United States, but the phrase it abbreviates ha ...

. He added that the dystopies described by

Aldous Huxley Aldous Leonard Huxley (26 July 1894 – 22 November 1963) was an English writer and philosopher. He wrote nearly 50 books, both novels and non-fiction works, as well as wide-ranging essays, narratives, and poems. Born into the prominent Huxley ...

"are probably not that far away". He stepped down in April 2010. Until his successor

Bjørn Erik Thon Bjørn Erik Thon (born 6 February 1964) is a Norwegian jurist and ombudsman. Career 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 ...

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

festschrift In academia, a ''Festschrift'' (; plural, ''Festschriften'' ) is a book honoring a respected person, especially an academic, and presented during their lifetime. It generally takes the form of an edited volume, containing contributions from the h ...

s and amateur history. In addition, he has written columns in the newspapers ''Fredriksstad Blad'', ''

Stavanger Aftenblad ''Stavanger Aftenblad'' () (lit: ''Stavanger Evening Paper'') or simply ''Aftenbladet'' is a daily newspaper based in Stavanger, Norway, and owned by Schibsted Media Group. Norwegian owners held 42 percent of the shares in Schibsted at the end ...

'', ''

Dagens Næringsliv ''Dagens Næringsliv'' (Norwegian for "Today's Business"), commonly known as ''DN'', is a Norwegian newspaper specializing in business news. , it is the third-largest newspaper in Norway. Editor-in-chief is Janne Johannessen, who was appointed i ...

'' and ''

A-Magasinet ''A-magasinet'' is a supplement to the Norwegian newspaper ''Aftenposten'' that is published every Friday. The supplement is published in a format of , and it is therefore smaller than the daily newspaper, which is published in tabloid format. The ...

''.

Personal life

He was the son of district stipendiary magistrate () Christian B. Apenes and housewife Inger-Johanne Apenes, née Framholdt Johansen. Inger-Johanne Apenes was murdered in 1978. The case was unsolved, until 2007 when someone confessed to the murder. By that time, however, the case was juridically

obsolete Obsolescence is the state of being which occurs when an object, service, or practice is no longer maintained or required even though it may still be in good working order. It usually happens when something that is more efficient or less risky r ...

. Georg Apenes is also a nephew of engineer and archaeologist

Ola Apenes Ola Rasmus Apenes (23 August 1898 – 6 April 1943) was a Norwegian engineer, archaeologist and soldier. He was born in Fredriksstad as a son of shipbroker Georg Apenes (1869–1902) and his wife Kitty, née Mørch (1872–1958). His brother C ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Apenes, Georg 1940 births 2016 deaths Members of the Storting Directors of government agencies of Norway Østfold politicians Conservative Party (Norway) politicians Norwegian jurists Norwegian journalists University of Oslo alumni People from Fredrikstad 20th-century Norwegian politicians