Smári McCarthy
| Smári McCarthy | |
|---|---|
Smári McCarthy in 2012
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| Born |
February 7, 1984 Reykjavík, Iceland |
| Alma mater | University of Iceland |
| Occupation | Innovator and information activist |
| Known for | |
| Website | smarimccarthy |
Smári McCarthy (born 7 February 1984) is an Icelandic/Irish politician, innovator and information activist. He is known for his work relating to direct democracy, transparency, and privacy.
Smári was born in Reykjavík, Iceland, the son of Kolbrún Óskarsdóttir and Eugene McCarthy. At age one his family moved to England. At age 9, the family returned to Iceland, settling in Vestmannaeyjar, a town and archipelago off the south coast. He studied mathematics at the University of Iceland , but quit after two years to get involved with the digital fabrication movement. A fellow student, Sigrún Helga Lund, now a teacher at the University of Iceland, accused Smári of never having finished his first semester although he studied at the University for 2 years.
Smári got involved in the digital fabrication movement in 2007, and was involved in the creation of the first Icelandic fab lab in Vestmannaeyjar. He has worked with Fab Labs elsewhere, including Jalalabad, Afghanistan.
The same year, Smári proposed the Shadow Parliament Project, a project intending to "crowdsource democracy". In an essay outlining the project, he described what is now known as Liquid Democracy. The project launched Skuggaþing (Icelandic for "shadow parliament") in early 2010. In 2012 he started the wasa2il software project in order to address shortcomings with existing implementations of Liquid Democracy.
In 2008 he co-founded of the Icelandic Digital Freedom Society (FSFÍ), a free software, privacy and digital rights organization in Iceland.
In 2009 he organized the Icelandic Modern Media Initiative along with various other media freedom and free speech activists, including Birgitta Jónsdóttir, Julian Assange and Rop Gonggrijp. In 2011 the International Modern Media Institute (IMMI) was formed around the initiative, with Smári serving as executive director. In 2013 he left that role, but still serves as a board member of IMMI.
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