She is from Amsterdam and one of the founders of buro Jansen & Janssen.
Buro Jansen & Janssen is a spin off from the strong squatter
movement of Amsterdam in the eighties. Activists back then had to
deal with the police and secret service a lot and the bureau
started collecting strategies and contra-expertise. Jansen &
Janssen started in 1985 and soon grew into an archive on police
tactics with particular interest in analysing how the force deals
with critical powers that be. The buro published its research on
how the secret service tried to infiltrate the activist movement,
and on how they blackmailed asylumseekers to work for them. Main
goal back then was to fight paranoia by presenting facts &
details of homegrown research.
Jansen & Janssen kept up with the changes of times and in 1994
revealed how private detectives collect information about lobby
groups and sell it to the multinationals involved.
Other areas which the Janssens have been interested in for many
years are the change in police tactics in fighting organized
crime, the influence of foreign agencies on seizing drug traffic
and the shift towards more intelligence gathering.
The connecting of databases to help build the wall around
(Western) Europe to keep refugees out, and the fight against this
has been a major topic as well.
Through the years the buro has supported people who got in touch
with the law because of their ideas and activities, in all
possible ways. Initiating investigations and persisting research,
instead of following news covers is an important trademark.
Jansen & Janssen also -mostly anonymously- encouraged others to
disclose secret reports or specific research on criminal
investigation.
Modern times lured J&J onto Internet. A major scope was the
breaking of the State Publishers' monopoly on the Hansards of
Parliament. Freedom of speech optima forma. The Hansards are free
of copyright, but only given to the State Publishers who claim
rights on the layout. After a parliamentairy research into
corruption in the investigation methods of the police with
startling disclosures, it was time to act. The State Publishers
asked 700,- guilders for the printed version of this Van Traa
report and another 700,- for the CDrom. Jansen hacked the
official CD-rom and put the entire report (5000 pages) on the Net.
That was fun.
At present securing autonomous zones of tactical research by
independent investigators is a major issue of concern.
To value this work higher than career and big money requests
ingenious strategies in order to be able to survive and keep up
the good mood.
Recent activities connected with Internet
* Next Five Minutes conference in Amsterdam (January 1996)
Moderating the Serious Research debate on how to break the
information monopoly. Featuring among others: Babet about her
cencored film about Aristide and Haiti, Jamie Hartzel from
Undercurrents and, last but not least, the sneak prview of the
anti-McDonald's site McSpotlight by Franny Armstrong.
Also: Scientology Alert, an overview of the battle Scientology
Church versus Internet. Writer Karen Spaink and xs4all chief
Felipe Rodriguez interviewed about the ongoing war of the sect
against critics, using Internet as a new battlefield.
* Beat the Dutch, Report on Amsterdam (May 1996)
This long article is not only a report on several amazing events
concerning Internet in the Netherlands, but also an essay
exploring the the dimensions of Netactivism.
'If the use of Internet adds a certain value to a discussion or
supplies a special dimension to a campaign, then something really
beautifull is happening'. Read the Report!
* Amnesty International Filmfestival (september 1996)
Moderating the Robocop debate about the role of Internet in
collecting information about human rights and in campaigning about
human rights. Featuring Deborah Guzman, Anita Anand,
Michiel Hegener and Maja van der Velde.
Present & Coming Projects
* Political Content Provider
The founding of a political network, a framework to organize easy
acces also for the non-tech-no-type-activists. Extending the
possibilities of Internet for campaigning, adding dimensions. Make
the technical knowledge accessible and squad the room we need in
cyberspace. Soon, before the commercialists have taken over the
entire Net. Project with Geert Lovink.
Some site seeing:
buro Jansen & Janssen
Next 5 Minutes Conference
McSpotlight
Against Scientology