Karin Spaink

Karin Spaink (20 December 1957 – 8 May 2026) was a Dutch journalist, writer and feminist. She was also a free speech advocate and social critic, who criticized New Age writers and the Church of Scientology.

Life and career

Spaink was born in Amsterdam and trained as a secondary school teacher from 1975 to 1981, specialising in English. From 1981 to 1984 she studied sociology at the University of Amsterdam. She was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis in 1986.

In 1986 and 1987 she trained as a computer programmer, at Volmac and Fokker. In this period she worked for the Pacifist Socialist Party. From 1988 until 1990 she worked for Fokker. In 2018 she became the editor-in-chief of Follow the Money. She wrote a regular column for Het Parool (1992 to 2022) and previously wrote for De Groene Amsterdammer (1994-2003).

From 2001 to 2004 she was an external adviser for the Freedom of the Media bureau (FOM) of the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE), advising them on freedom of speech and the internet.

In 2005 she became the chief editor of a new book series, The Next Ten Years. The first book in the series, which dealt with electronic patient records (EPR) and the accompanying hack of two major hospitals, led to a debate in parliament. A few months later, the national introduction of EPR's was stalled by the Department of Health, citing Spaink's research. In that same year, she embarked on writing the history of XS4ALL and Hack-Tic.

In 2013 she joined the Committee of Recommendation of the Dutch whistleblower foundation Publeaks, which on 9 September 2013 launched a whistleblowing initiative based on GlobaLeaks software.

In 2015, Spaink was named Freethinker of the Year by De Vrije Gedachte.

Spaink gave the 2018 Mosse Lecture, titled Tussen Grewel en Fortuyn: Identiteit, herzuiling, privilege en verschil (Between Grewel and Fortuyn: Identity, re-pillarification, privilege and difference).

Spaink died on 8 May 2026, at the age of 68.

Social criticism Spaink was a free speech advocate and social critic. Some of her subjects are: New-age writers who assert all diseases are only a psychological phenomenon; The Church of Scientology, which sued her for more than ten years; Opposition to a U.S. court decision which took down an anti-abortion internet site that contained names, addresses, photos and personal data of abortion providers along with calls for violence against them (Spaink describes herself as pro-choice on the issue of abortion, but felt that freedom of speech should prevail); The right to inform people about methods of suicide and to discuss the danger or reliability of various methods.

Disputes with New Age proponents over physical ailments Spaink first came into the national limelight by accusing such New Age writers as Louise Hay and Bernie Siegel of oversimplifying physical ailments by reducing them to a purely psychological phenomenon. and ruled that Spaink had the right to quote the Church in her exposé.

The Church appealed again, this time to the Supreme Court of Netherlands. In July 2005, a few days before the court was expected to rule, Scientology withdrew the appeal. The Supreme Court dismissed Scientology's claims while accepting Scientology's withdrawal. As a consequence of this withdrawal, Scientology has no possibility to appeal to the European Court, because this is only possible when all legal means on country level have been exhausted. The verdict of the appeal court stands, but the Supreme Court did not add an evaluation of its own.

Spaink continued to criticize Scientology, and actively participated in Project Chanology's monthly pickets against the organization.

Effects of this court case In the original court case, the judge upheld the law that ISPs whose customers on their homepages link to copyright infringement are as liable as if the customers infringed on that copyright themselves. This part of the judge's decision caused an uproar in the Dutch Internet community, where many claim that a link is not a mechanism for publishing works but merely a reference to a work. In the verdict of the appeal on 4 September 2003, this ruling was reversed.

Right to Die Spaink was also involved in the Right to Die movement; she hosted a website which offers access to information concerning methods of suicide. This website garnered much controversy when, in October 2005, Christopher Aston (25) and Maria Williams (42) from Liverpool and London respectively, entered into a suicide pact after meeting on a newsgroup discussing the same subject.