Johan Helsingius
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Johan "Julf" Helsingius, born in Finland, started and ran the Anon.penet.fi internet remailer.
Anon.penet.fi was one of the most popular Internet remailers, handling 10,000 messages a day. The development and running of the server, which was the first of its kind to use a password-protected PO box system for sending and receiving e-mails, were due to the private initiative of Julf Helsingius, a vehement believer in the free speech principle. In the Eighties he was the system administrator for the central Finnish news node as well as one of the founding members of the Finnish UNIX User Group.
As well as threats from moralists who regarded Anon.penet.fi to be a dangerous source used to distribute smut, the Church of Scientology decided it wanted to pull the plug on the service and called in lawyers to make the names of anonymous critics of Scientology on the remailer known. In February 1995, the Church of Scientology called in Interpol and Finnish prosecutors in order to find out user an144108's real identity. Pressured by possible police measures which would have meant disclosing not one but all of the registered names in the database, Julf revealed the identity of the person Scientology was looking for. One year later, on August 30, 1996, he announced his remailer would shut down.
The American Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF), a global Internet civil rights initiative and bastion of resistance against attacks on the freedom of speech, reported continuously on the incidents concerning anon.penet.fi. The EFF collected donations to cover legal costs should Helsingius be involved in a court case to settle whether Finnish law could force him to reveal the identity of anon.penet.fi users.
The closing down of anon.penet.fi led to an outbreak of outrage and solidarity with Helsingius throughout the Internet in order to protect freedom on the Internet. In the letters of protest that followed, it was not so much the use of remailers for private purposes that was important but rather the principle of freedom of information and the guarantee of the unrestricted exchange of data on the internet.
Helsingius went on to help found EUnet in Finland and was part of the team of people that established the first Internet link to a Soviet country. Later, when EUnet was acquired by Qwest Communications and soon after moved into KPNQwest, Qwest's joint venture with KPN International, Julf became Chief Technology Officer (CTO) for KPNQwest. He is now an Internet entrepreneur and is serving on the board of various innovative companies (e.g. BaseN, which is based in Finland). Helsingius lives in Amsterdam, the Netherlands.
Helsingius has studied music and traveled widely. His interests include active sports, like mountain climbing, and aviation.
