Remembering Ville Oksanen
Ville Oksanen, Vice President and a founding member of Electronic Frontier Finland (Effi), passed away on Sunday 23 November 2014 in Helsinki from a sudden illness. He was 37 years old.
Ville was one of the founders of EDRi’s Finnish member organisation Effi, and a key contributor throughout the existence of the association. He acted as the president of Effi from 2004 to 2005, and on 2011 he was appointed as an Honorary Member in recognition of his tireless work, which he continued to his last days. He also regularly represented EDRi in World Intellectual Property Organisation (WIPO) meetings, and was an active contributor to EDRi-gram.
Besides his work for Effi and EDRi, Ville worked as researcher in Aalto University, and as lawyer in Turre Legal, a law firm specialised in technology, media and copyright issues.
Ville was known as a hard-working defender of civil rights, especially digital rights and freedom of expression – he participated actively in public debate on these issues, significantly influencing the development of digital rights issues on both national and EU level.
Ville’s absence leaves a wide gap to the digital rights scene, and also in our hearts and minds. He was a warm, friendly and humorous person who will be dearly missed. In the future we will often wonder what Ville would have said and done. He believed that we can change the world for the better, and we will continue in his footsteps to do so.
EDRi-gram, EDRi Brussels office and Effi express their sincerest condolences to Ville’s family and friends.
Obituaries published in the Finnish press:
Effi suree Ville Oksasen poismenoa (23.11.2014)
https://effi.org/julkaisut/tiedotteet/effi-suree-ville-oksasen-poismenoa.html
Yksilön oikeuksien puolustaja, Ville Oksanen 1976–2014 (25.11.2014)
http://www.hs.fi/ihmiset/a1416802655649
Digivaikuttaja Ville Oksanen on kuollut (24.11.2014)
http://www.hs.fi/kotimaa/a1416714841229
Digioikeusaktivisti Ville Oksanen on kuollut (24.11.2014)
http://www.digitoday.fi/tyo-ja-ura/2014/11/24/digioikeusaktivisti-ville-oksanen-on-kuollut/201416228/66
Ville Oksanen kuollut (24.11.2014)
http://www.tivi.fi/kaikki_uutiset/ville+oksanen+kuollut/a1031223
Muistokirjoitus: Ville Oksanen @villoks (24.11.2014)
http://suomenkuvalehti.fi/kohinaa/muistokirjoitus-ville-oksanen-villoks/?shared=822-06bf3af8-999
Väsymätön digioikeuksien puolustaja – Ville Oksanen 1976 – 2014 (25.11.2014)
http://www.iltalehti.fi/digi/2014112518865956_du.shtml
(Contribution by EDRi-member Effi, Finland)