Karin Spaink - Biography

Biography

Spaink was born in Amsterdam and trained as a secondary school teacher from 1975 to 1981, specialising in English. From 1981 to 1984 she studied sociology at the University of Amsterdam.

She was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis in 1986. She started writing freelance around this time.

In 1986 and 1987 she trained as a computer programmer, at Volmac and Fokker. In this period she worked for the Pacifist Socialist Party. From 1988 until 1990 she worked for Fokker.

She writes a regular column for Het Parool (1992 to present) and previously wrote for De Groene Amsterdammer (1998 to 2000).

From 2001 to 2004 she was an external adviser for the Freedom of the Media bureau (FOM) of the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE), advising them on freedom of speech and the internet.

In 2005 she became the chief editor of a new book series, The Next Ten Years. The first book in the series dealt with electronic patient records (EPR) and the accompanying hack of two major hospitals lead to a debate in parliament. A few months later, the national introduction of EPR's was stalled by the Department of Health, citing Spaink's research. In that same year, she embarked on writing the history of XS4ALL and Hack-Tic.

In March 2006, she was diagnosed with breast cancer and subsequently underwent mastectomy and chemotherapy.