Michaela Merz

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Michaela Merz at the Federal Press Conference in Berlin on January 14, 2014

Michaela Merz (born January 3, 1960 in Kassel ) is a German software developer, internet pioneer and entrepreneur .

Life

Entrepreneur and Internet Pioneer

After studying business administration , she started the Free Software Association of Germany (FSAG) in 1991 , which promoted the use of open source software in companies . Since then she has belonged to the German branch of the Free Software Foundation . During this time she developed u. a. the first Telnet client for Linux , one of the first VOIP applications ( mtalk ) and, together with her husband Rüdiger, GREAT (Graphical Environment And Desktop) , a Motif- based graphical user interface for Linux. Since 1992 she has been managing director of callisto germany.net GmbH . In 1993 she started the development of a WWW -based online service , which went online in 1994 under the name "Deutsche Datenautobahn" and was commercialized in 1995 under the name germany.net and is considered a network pioneer.

1998 Merz was in the Board of DENIC appointed. A year later, Merz separated from germany.net In 1999 she went to the United States , arriving in the management of Steyla Technologies, Inc. entered. Since October 1, 2008, Merz has been managing director and since January 2009 also delegate of the board of directors of Polepositioner AG in Zurich . This company has not been active since 2011. Merz has been the founder and managing partner of Hermetos Datendienste GmbH in Eisenach since the beginning of May 2011 .

Merz lives with her husband near Houston , Texas , in the United States, and in Eisenach .

Political commitment

In January 2013 Michaela Merz was appointed to the advisory board “Young Digital Economy” at the Federal Ministry of Economics. According to Merz, the focus of her work is "to make it easier for young companies in the computer and Internet sectors to enter the market, to ensure more data security".

In July 2013 Michaela Merz left the Free Democratic Party (FDP) and joined the Alternative for Germany (AfD). There she was co-opted to become a member of the federal board with responsibility for network policy. On August 24, 2013 Merz was elected first spokeswoman for the Thuringia regional association of the AfD.

In order to succinctly express her competence as an Internet pioneer, which she claims to have acquired through her cooperation with the University of Karlsruhe (one of the first German Internet hubs) and through her commitment to founding the Internet provider germany.net in the early 1990s, In July 2013, Michaela Merz chose the self-designation of a “co-founder of the German Internet” as the AfD's network policy representative. This self-designation met with criticism because it was exaggerated.

In connection with the NSA scandal , Michaela Merz, as AfD network commissioner, takes the view that a "European Internet" does not offer any protection against spying. Anti-espionage agreements are worth striving for, but only a defensive technique offers real protection.

At the beginning of February 2014, Merz resigned as board spokeswoman for AfD Thuringia due to internal party quarrels and left the party in September. She justified her resignation with the AfD's shift to the right.

Products (open source)

Web links

Commons : Michaela Merz  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

References and comments

  1. ↑ DIGITALE Anarchy, Focus Magazin No. 33/1994
  2. ↑ Elena Rauch: "Nobody gives us women anything", interview with Michaela Merz, Thüringer Allgemeine, 8. March 2013
  3. ↑ Eva Müller: FOUNDING A LIFE. Money like hay, Focus Magazine No. 19/1997 , “Michaela Merz is a computer freak. But she couldn't use her enthusiasm in her jobs in advertising and marketing. So she started her own business with internet access. In 1994 she had the GermanyNet address reserved. "
  4. ↑ Computer news: Bavarian Internet - almost free, Focus Magazin No. 18/1996
  5. ↑ Focus Magazin, No. 27/1999, online “... the original mother of cheap internet in Germany has come under such pressure. From August at the latest, Michaela Merz, managing director of the online service germany.net, which has been offering network access at local rates since 1995, will therefore offer her customers a lower inclusive fee. "
  6. ↑ Research and Technology, Focus Magazine No. 12/1998, online “… Michaela Merz, managing director of the online service germany.net, didn't want to wait. In her own work she programmed a simple change purse for her 330,000 users, which can be filled using the conventional direct debit procedure…. It increased its sales tenfold in four months - by simply redesigning the cumbersome, slow web pages. "
  7. ↑ Florian Rötzer: Web Washer or the information sneaks. The bizarre criticism of the managing director Michaela Merz from germany.net , heise.de, March 9, 1999
  8. ↑ Interview with Michaela Merz, managing director of Colisto Germany net GmbH since 1992 and member of the board of Denic, Denic Magazin, March 1999, PDF
  9. ↑ http://www.moneyhouse.ch/u/polepositioner_ag_CH-020.3.030.883-0.htm
  10. ↑ Better than e-mail: new service for highly secure data transmission started, press release from Perspektive Mittelstand
  11. ↑ BMWi starts the advisory board “Young Digital Economy” , vc-magazin.de January 15, 2013
  12. ↑ Thüringer Allgemeine, March 8, 2013
  13. ↑ Dietmar Grosser: Michaela Merz advises Economics Minister Philipp Rösler, Thüringer Zeitung , January 15, 2013
  14. ↑ FDP internet expert switches to AfD, Wirtschaftswoche, July 7, 2013
  15. ↑ AfD election poster: The woman who somehow invented the German Internet a bit , STERN online, July 30, 2013
  16. ↑ Michaela Merz: When I was said to have invented the Internet the other day. Blog on michaelamerz.com from August 5, 2013
  17. ↑ AfD press release from November 4, 2013: ( Memento of the original from January 2, 2014 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link has been inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. "Data security must be more than lip service" @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.alternativefuer.de
  18. ^ Leadership crisis at the Thuringian AfD ( memento from March 6, 2014 in the Internet Archive ), mdr.de, February 2, 2014
  19. ↑ Criticism of a shift to the right: Internet politician resigns from AfD , September 16, 2014
personal data
SURNAME Merz, Michaela
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German software developer, network pioneer and entrepreneur
DATE OF BIRTH January 3, 1960
PLACE OF BIRTH kassel