It is with much sadness that I write of the death of a colleague and friend Professor Jon Bing of the University of Oslo, who died on 14 January 2014 at the age of 69. Along with Colin Tapper and Peter Siepel he was one of the fathers of legal informatics. Jon had a long connection with the journal; he had been a member of the International Advisory Board for the International Review from its first edition in 1984 (then called the Yearbook of Law Computers and Technology). In that first edition he reviewed Colin Tapper's 3rd edition of Computer Law. Jon, giving an early insight into his wide ranging perspective, commenting on the fact that legal informatics was subject to rapid change said this is not only down to mere technical developments but also due to the wide ranging changes in organisations and society that are being reflected in the law. This insight showed how Jon was always able to see the bigger picture, which is why during his illustrious career he was called upon by media to comment on anything from law to tax to extra-terrestrials!
Jon's main academic work was to be in data protection and legal information retrieval. This was the area in which Jon was to become world renowned. His work both on data protection and the theoretical underpinning of legal information retrieval systems remain key works today. He continued to publish in this area and it was only he who could in 2010 write the definitive history of the field in A history of legal informatics (2010, LEFIS) Let There Be Lite: A Brief History Of Legal Information Retrieval. Much of his work was based around the Norwegian Research Center for Computers and Law (NRCCL), which he founded. It was at the NRCCL where generations of information technology lawyers have learnt their craft.
Yet legal informatics was only part of the man, he straddled many disciplines and interests and he was constantly in demand to appear on Norwegian television. However, for many he was best known as a novelist. He published over thirty novels. His fifteen science fiction novels, co-authored with Tor Åge Bringsværd, were unique in Scandinavian literature and were seen as the beginning for science fiction literature on that continent. The last time I was at his home I remember him proudly showing me a book case with several shelves of novels, ‘I wrote some of these on my own and some with Tor’, he said modestly, and that was the essence of the man, immensely brilliant yet immensely modest. He is sadly missed.
Jon Bing 30 April 1944–14 January 2014