Tõnu Samuel

Early Life and Education

Tõnu Samuel was born on 3 July 1972 in Tallinn, Estonia. Between 1979 and 1988 he attended the Tallinn Secondary School of Science. In 1990–1992 he took courses in business and financial management.

Career

Samuel's career as a programmer began in 1991 while working at the Estonian Ministry of Communication. He is commonly cited by mainstream media in Estonia in connection with network security topics. For approximately ten years prior to 2011, he lived in Räpina, a town in southeastern Estonia. In 2011 he relocated to Japan.

Internet Governance Advocacy

In 2010, management of the .ee country code top-level domain was transferred to the Estonian Internet Foundation (EIF). Samuel and Jaan Jänesmäe co-authored an open letter objecting to the transfer, citing concerns about high costs and arguing that the EIF had "consistently ignored the real needs of the Estonian Internet community." The letter called on the EIF board to resign.

When the appeal did not produce the desired outcome, Samuel and 21 others founded the Estonian Internet Community (Eesti Interneti Kogukond), a non-governmental organization established on 7 October 2010 to advocate for internet users in Estonia. Samuel stepped down from the NGO's board at his own request on 6 February 2011, but was re-elected to it in April of that year. As of December 2025, he remained listed as a member of the organization.