(This is a translated and localised version of the page „Um Svavar Kjarrval“.)
I am born on November 7th in 1983 and live in Hafnarfjörður. My father is Lúther Þorgeirsson (born 1946), a retired sailor, and my mother is Bryndís Svavarsdóttir (born 1956), a theologian.
Cell phone: +354 863 9900 Landline: +354 555 4096
E-mail address: svavar@kjarrval.is (PGP fingerprint = 7670 B684 846E C70E 61EFFB7F 07AA A4D9 5F3D 6695)
Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/kjarrval
Google+ page: https://plus.google.com/116701438754297921360
Education
I started in elementary school in 1990 when I went to Öldutúnsskóli in Hafnarfjörður and I was there until I graduated from there in 2000. One could say I was the nerd of the class since I focused more on studying than on my social life. In secondary grammar school I was kind of a forever student but graduated from Fjölbrautarskólinn við Ármúla in December 2005 with a major in IT and minored in Web Technology and earned roughly 180 study credits. I enrolled in Computer Science at Reykjavik University in fall 2006 and graduated with a bachelor degree in 18th of June 2011.
Views
Some would say my views are extreme since I want to go very far in some matters and they would be correct. When it comes to matters regarding people’s rights I always lean on enhancing the rights extremely. However, I want to be realistic and do realise that other people do not hold the same extreme views I do. Even if I don’t get exactly what I want I would be gracious if the status moved a bit in my direction.
As an example of my views that I care about is justice and especially human rights. Most of the important rights defined in the constitution have been lessened in the recent years and that needs to be corrected. Freedom of speech is very important and I think those who express unpopular views be the most courages. The right to practive a religion shall not be under unreasonable restrictions and the same applies to the right to not practive any religion. I’ve been and will try to uphold these rights and enhance them when I get the chance.
As I’ve long upheld is that truth is the best speech as we say in Iceland. But that doesn’t mean I’ve never lied and never will; but when I do I feel bad. Among those reasons I tend to tell the truth even if it hurts me at the time.
Fights
In the recent years I’ve had two major engagements. The former started in the year 2006 when I applied to add the middle name Kjarrval and it wasn’t until December 2009 that I managed to convince the Human Name Committee to allow the addition. The latter was started in November 19th 2007 by four copyright groups with a injunction on the website torrent.is. After a costly fight in the District Court and the Supreme Court it ended in February 11th 2010 with their victory.
Social life
In my life I’ve been a part of many societies but the connection vary in strength. I’ve focused on my independence, though, from those societies i.e. that the societies don’t control my views but I’m in them because we share a common purpose.
I’m part of or have been part of the following societies:
ADHD samtökin (ADHD Association)
Autism Europe
The Computer Science and Software Engineering student society (Nörd)
Einhverfusamtökin (The Icelandic Autistic Society)
Boardmember 2012-2018, 2019-
Vice Chairman 2019- (Acting Chairman from December 2nd 2021 to April 25th 2022)
Chairman 2022-
ELSA Iceland
FSFÍ (Society of Digital Freedom in Iceland)
Hliðskjálf, félag um opin og frjáls landupplýsingagögn (Hliðskjálf, organisation about open and free geographical data)
Íslensk-japanska félagið (Iceland-Japan Society) – Examiner of Accounts 2017-2021
Lögfræðingafélag Íslands (The Icelandic Lawyers’ Association) 2024-
Jóhann Guðmundsson Memorial Fund – Alternate Member of the Board 2020-
Orator, Association of Law Students
Siðmennt (the Icelandic Ethical Humanist Association) – Reserve examiner of Accounts 2018-2020
Vantrú (Disbelieve (literal translation))
Vífill
Wikimedians of Iceland User Group
Öryrkjabandalag Íslands (The Icelandic Disability Alliance)
Member of the board 2015-2019
Law Committee 2015-2019
Issue Group of Employment and Education 2021-
Vice Chairman (of the group), March 2022 – November 2023
Disability
In the middle of the year 2010 I started to have suspicions that I had Asperger syndrome and a short time liter I admitted to myself that I had it. After diagnosis by a psychiatrist he confirmed by suspicions along with depression and social anxiety. I then applied for Disability Benefits which was accepted without comments. Armed with this diagnosis I’ve been working on getting rid of or lessening the negative attributes of it. We’ll see how that will work.