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Nils Torvalds

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Nils Torvalds
Member of the European Parliament
Assumed office
2012
Preceded byCarl Haglund
ConstituencyFinland
Personal details
Born (1945-08-07) 7 August 1945 (age 79)
Ekenäs, Finland
Political partySwedish People's Party of Finland
ResidenceHelsinki
Websitehttp://www.nilstorvalds.fi

Nils Torvalds (born August 7, 1945) is a Finnish-Swede broadcast journalist, writer and politician, MEP. Torvalds is the son of the poet Ole Torvalds, and the father of the computer programmer Linus Torvalds of Linux kernel fame.[1]

Journalist career

Born in Ekenäs, Torvalds worked as a journalist of Finlands Svenska Television from 1982. He has been a correspondent in Moscow and later in Washington. Torvalds is an author and co-writer of books about Russia and the Soviet Union.

Political activity

Torvalds was active in the Communist Party of Finland (SKP) since he was a college student in the 1960s. He was elected to the Central Committee of the SKP in 1982.[2] He belonged to the Taistoist (hardline) minority. His political beliefs changed after learning of the atrocities committed against communist sympathizers in Finland. In his son Linus' book, he is reported as having lost enthusiasm for Communism.

In 2007 Torvalds was elected to the post of the third vice chairperson of the Swedish People's Party.[3] In 2008, he was elected in Helsinki City Council for term 2009–2012.[4] Torvalds was a candidate for European Parliament election in 2009 on the Swedish People's Party list. He got 14,044 votes and was not allocated a seat.[5] On July 5, 2012 he was installed in the European Parliament, after the resignation of Carl Haglund. As a MEP[6] he is vice-chair of the Fisheries committee (PECH) and member of the committee for Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs (LIBE).

Nils was was present in the European Parliament committee inquiry regarding "mass surveillance on EU citizens" (held after the publications regarding Edward Snowden) and revealed that his son Linus was asked by the NSA to include to a backdoor in the Linux kernel, the main component of the GNU/Linux computer operating systems, a claim later contradicted by Linus.[7][8]

Works

  • Ollus, Simon-Erik; Torvalds, Nils (2005). Kaupasta kumppanuuteen : Suomen Venäjä-talousstrategia. Helsinki: Sitra. ISBN 951-37-4519-8.
  • Torvalds, Nils (2008). Muodonmuutoksia : Venäjän pitkä vuosisata 1900-2008. Helsinki: Sitra. ISBN 978-951-563-635-5.

References

  1. ^ Torvalds, 2001
  2. ^ SKP:n ylimääräisen edustajakokouksen valitsema keskuskomitea (Kommunisti 5/1982, p. 471)
  3. ^ Sfp valde orförande och viceordförande, energipolitiska ställningstagandet remitterades (SFP 10.06.2007)
  4. ^ Kaupunginvaltuuston puoluejakauma kaudella 2009–2012
  5. ^ "EUROPARLAMENTTIVAALIT 7.6.2009 - Tulos - Koko maa". vaalit.fi (the Official Results by the Ministry of Justice). Retrieved 2009-06-13.
  6. ^ http://www.europarl.europa.eu/meps/en/114268/NILS_TORVALDS_home.html
  7. ^ http://www.omgubuntu.co.uk/2013/11/nsa-ask-linus-torvalds-include-backdoors-linux-father-says-yes
  8. ^ http://mashable.com/2013/09/19/linus-torvalds-backdoor-linux/

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