<nettime> Felipe Rodriguez has died

[Karin Spaink <karin@spaink.net>]

Felipe Rodriguez Svensson died earlier this week, on October 6.

Together with Rop Gonggrijp het started XS4all, the first public
internet provider of The Netherlands. Felipe used money from his
restaurant Centra, a Spanish restaurant smack in the middle of the
Amsterdam Red Light district. He inherited the restaurant from his
parents when he was 18.

Together with Marleen Stikker he started DDS [De Digitale Stad], a free
and open on-line community in the vein of The Well, but based on the
idea of a city map: DDS had a metro [a MOO], a post office [mail
service], a city hall ???[politics], a news stand [digital newspapers],
houses [web sites], squares etc.

He was very important in the whole Scientology vs XS4all / CoS s the
internet affair. Scientology raided the XS4all offices in Sept 1995 over
alleged copyrigh infringement. Felipe decided to fight them; I started
the same website with a different provider. Together, we beat them every
step of the way, and a few days before the utch Supreme Court was to
rule in our favour, Cos dropped the case (that was in 2003.

With Maurice Wessling and me he founded Bits of Freedom, the first Dutch
digital rights organisation. He funded it, too, to a large degree. After
he moved to Australia in 1998, he started EFF AU.

In 2002  he tuned out to have multiple sclerosis. He met the love of his
life, got married, and was terribly happy.  He died last Tuesday. He
will be buried on Oct. 13.

He really put his heart into internet.

- K -

-- 
I killed so many women I have a hard time keeping them straight.
  - Gary Ridgway in his confession to the Seattle County Court, Nov. 5 2002. Ridgway killed at least 48 women, perhaps more.



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