Amelia Anna Matilda Katarina Andersdotter (born 30 August 1987 in

Uppsala Uppsala ( ; ; archaically spelled ''Upsala'') is the capital of Uppsala County and the List of urban areas in Sweden by population, fourth-largest city in Sweden, after Stockholm, Gothenburg, and Malmö. It had 177,074 inhabitants in 2019. Loc ...

) is a Swedish politician and former

Member of the European Parliament A member of the European Parliament (MEP) is a person who has been Election, elected to serve as a popular representative in the European Parliament. When the European Parliament (then known as the Common Assembly of the European Coal and S ...

(2011–2014), elected on the

Pirate Party Pirate Party is a label adopted by various Political party, political parties worldwide that share a set of values and policies focused on Civil and political rights, civil rights in the digital age. The fundamental principles of Pirate Partie ...

list in the 2009 election.

Political career

Amelia joined the Piratpartiet shortly after its formation in 2006. From June 2007 to March 2010 she was the international coordinator of Ung Pirat, the party's youth wing. In this capacity she coordinated contacts with other groups in Sweden, other pirate political movements around the world, and the organization's international policy viewpoints. In 2009, she was named the second candidate on Piratpartiet's list for the

European Parliament The European Parliament (EP) is one of the two legislative bodies of the European Union and one of its seven institutions. Together with the Council of the European Union (known as the Council and informally as the Council of Ministers), it ...

elections in June of that year. While Piratpartiet did not gain enough votes for a second MEP under the

treaty of Nice The Treaty of Nice was signed by European leaders on 26 February 2001 and came into force on 1 February 2003. It amended the Maastricht Treaty (or the Treaty on European Union) and the Treaty of Rome (or the Treaty establishing the European C ...

, they did get enough votes to award her a seat under the terms of the new

treaty of Lisbon The Treaty of Lisbon (initially known as the Reform Treaty) is a European agreement that amends the two treaties which form the constitutional basis of the European Union (EU). The Treaty of Lisbon, which was signed by all EU member states o ...

that was to come into effect December that year. Difficulties with the ratification process of the treaty of Lisbon meant that the seat would not be granted until December 2011. From 2011 to 2014, she was the youngest member of the European Parliament. In the interim period between her election and her inauguration, she spent much time travelling to different parts of the world talking about her experiences as a young politician and as an advocate of new ideas in information policy. Amongst others the

Ars Electronica Ars Electronica Linz GmbH is an Austrian cultural, educational and scientific institute active in the field of new media art, founded in Linz in 1979. It is based at the Ars Electronica Center (AEC), which houses the Museum of the Future, in t ...

festival in

Linz Linz (Pronunciation: , ; ) is the capital of Upper Austria and List of cities and towns in Austria, third-largest city in Austria. Located on the river Danube, the city is in the far north of Austria, south of the border with the Czech Repub ...

, Austria and a visit to

South Korea South Korea, officially the Republic of Korea (ROK), is a country in East Asia. It constitutes the southern half of the Korea, Korean Peninsula and borders North Korea along the Korean Demilitarized Zone, with the Yellow Sea to the west and t ...

in 2010, which later inspired her political involvement on the Korean peninsula delegation in the European Parliament. She also travelled extensively inside Europe during this time, involving herself in the work of Pirate Parties around Europe. During her term in office, she focused her efforts around information policy. She was a part of the

Committee on Industry, Research and Energy A committee or commission is a body of one or more persons subordinate to a deliberative assembly or other form of organization. A committee may not itself be considered to be a form of assembly or a decision-making body. Usually, an assembly o ...

. She was also a substitute member of the

Committee on International Trade The Committee on International Trade (INTA) is a committee of the European Parliament. Its current chair, elected on 10 July 2019, is Bernd Lange.Committee on Budgetary Control The Committee on Budgetary Control (CONT) is a Committees of the European Parliament, committee of the European Parliament. with 30 permanent members. It can be seen as the European Union's internal "political watchdog", seeking to identify undesi ...

. She also served as a full member of the parliamentary delegation to the

Korean peninsula Korea is a peninsular region in East Asia consisting of the Korean Peninsula, Jeju Island, and smaller islands. Since the end of World War II in 1945, it has been politically divided at or near the 38th parallel between North Korea (Dem ...

, and a substitute member of the delegation for the

Andean community The Andean Community (, CAN) is a free trade area with the objective of creating a customs union comprising the South American countries (Andean states) of Bolivia, Colombia, Ecuador, and Peru. The trade bloc was called the Andean Pact until 1 ...

. A longtime critic of the

Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement The Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement (ACTA) is a plurilateral agreement, multilateral treaty for the purpose of establishing international standards for intellectual property rights enforcement that did not enter into force. The agreement ai ...

, her advice to reject it was carried by the ITRE committee, the first of parliamentary committees to propose a rejection of the agreement. Other committees soon followed in the rejection. The agreement was soundly rejected by the European Parliament. Other areas she worked on include a proposal for a recast of the Union's Re-use of Public Sector Information Directive where she publicly criticized the Swedish government for resisting the proposed changes in access and cost regimes. She is also a supporter of public investments in fibre-to-the-home infrastructures.

Awards

* Top Ten Internet Activists of 2012, ''

The Daily Dot ''The Daily Dot'' is a digital media company covering the culture of the Internet and the World Wide Web. It was founded by Nicholas White in 2011, and is headquartered in Austin, Texas. The site, conceived as the Internet's "hometown newsp ...

Post-parliamentary work

After working in the European Parliament, Amelia was a guest researcher at

Centre for Internet and Society (India) The Centre for Internet and Society (CIS) is an Indian non-profit multidisciplinary research organization, based in Bengaluru. CIS works on digital pluralism, public accountability and pedagogic practices, in the field of the Internet and Societ ...

and technical standards researcher at Article19 and ANEC (organisation). She made large contributions to the IEEE 802E Privacy Recommendations standard as well as the ISO PC 3117 committee work on privacy and security for home internet-of-things appliances. In later years, she has continued technical standards work to promote power saving features and sustainable hardware on behalf of the operator and device manufacturer communities.

Personal life

Amelia Andersdotter was born on 30 August 1987 in

, Sweden, the first of three children. Her mother, Lotta Lille, is a journalist, and her father, Anders Lundquist, is a teacher and chess tutor. Her sisters are Ulrika and Karolina. She also has a half-brother on her father's side, Eirik Lundquist. After graduating at Rosendalsgymnasiet in Uppsala, she attended

university A university () is an educational institution, institution of tertiary education and research which awards academic degrees in several Discipline (academia), academic disciplines. ''University'' is derived from the Latin phrase , which roughly ...

in Lund, where she studied

mathematics Mathematics is a field of study that discovers and organizes methods, Mathematical theory, theories and theorems that are developed and Mathematical proof, proved for the needs of empirical sciences and mathematics itself. There are many ar ...

physics Physics is the scientific study of matter, its Elementary particle, fundamental constituents, its motion and behavior through space and time, and the related entities of energy and force. "Physical science is that department of knowledge whi ...

Spanish Spanish might refer to: * Items from or related to Spain: **Spaniards are a nation and ethnic group indigenous to Spain **Spanish language, spoken in Spain and many countries in the Americas **Spanish cuisine **Spanish history **Spanish culture ...

and

business law Commercial law (or business law), which is also known by other names such as mercantile law or trade law depending on jurisdiction; is the body of law that applies to the rights, relations, and conduct of persons and organizations engaged in ...

. However, Amelia was elected before completing her studies. She has lived in many parts of Europe and India, including

Lund Lund (, ;"Lund"
(US) and ) is a city in the provinces of Sweden, province of Scania, southern Swed ...

Bucharest Bucharest ( , ; ) is the capital and largest city of Romania. The metropolis stands on the River Dâmbovița (river), Dâmbovița in south-eastern Romania. Its population is officially estimated at 1.76 million residents within a greater Buc ...

Ghent Ghent ( ; ; historically known as ''Gaunt'' in English) is a City status in Belgium, city and a Municipalities of Belgium, municipality in the Flemish Region of Belgium. It is the capital and largest city of the Provinces of Belgium, province ...

Bangalore Bengaluru, also known as Bangalore (List of renamed places in India#Karnataka, its official name until 1 November 2014), is the Capital city, capital and largest city of the southern States and union territories of India, Indian state of Kar ...

and

Brussels Brussels, officially the Brussels-Capital Region, (All text and all but one graphic show the English name as Brussels-Capital Region.) is a Communities, regions and language areas of Belgium#Regions, region of Belgium comprising #Municipalit ...

References

External links

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