RIP Aaron Swartz
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- instrmntl0
That sucks.
- CygnusZero40
I've never heard of him before, but may the Swartz be with him.
- instrmntl0
Seven on Seven 2012: Aaron Swartz and Taryn Simon
http://rhizome.org/editorial/tag…
- i_monk0
1 year later.
- lodef0
documentary will premier at Sundance in a couple weeks
- whatthefunk0
Strange, I live in this building and had no idea this happened.
- wtf, yeah, I live in this building http://www.dnainfo.c…whatthefunk
- I live in this building too!
What are the chances?!detritus - Oh. I don't live in that bulding.detritus
- http://www.theplexbr…omg
- that's the one - strange day today around herewhatthefunk
- I USED LIVE IN THAT PLACEutopian
- uuuuuu0
anyone hear of a note or anything left ? not the old posts on his site but a real suicide letter or something
- monkeyshine0
Great post from Danah Boyd about Aaron.
http://www.zephoria.org/thoughts…
- utopian0
Aaron Swartz, a 24-year-old programmer and online political activist, was indicted Tuesday in Boston on charges that he stole over four million documents from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and JSTOR, an archive of scientific journals and academic papers.
The charges were filed by the United States Attorney for the District of Massachusetts, Carmen M. Ortiz, and could result in up to 35 years in prison and a $1 million fine.
In a press release, Ms. Ortiz's office said that Mr. Swartz broke into a restricted area of M.I.T. and entered a computer wiring closet. Mr. Swartz apparently then accessed the M.I.T. computer network and stole millions of documents from JSTOR.
- autoflavour0
totally different angle..
- vaxorcist0
the Aaron Swartz / JSTOR and MIT story is far more complicated than that, especially as BOTH JSTOR and MIT have essentially forgiven Aaron once they researched it all.... but the vendetta of Ortiz is profound, and hopefully this will be seen as an example of how prosecuter overkill is exactly that....
- yes, way overreaching by govt. Read the Boyd post to understand what's happening here.monkeyshine
- utopian0
dead?
- robotron3k0
I heard this from an insider about 20 minutes ago, once the Federal prosecutors took over from the MIT complant there was no way on earth to back down. It became a federal offense and the machine started rolling. He was found guilty and they wanted to give him 6 months minimum but he was not the kind of person to be told what to do, what time to wake up and what time to eat. The guy was wealthy as all get out but he didn't even own a car and the Feds could not track him-but they wanted him to be as example to others. He decided to make his life become a higher purpose for all and took his own life. That escalates things to a higher level as it's done and now people are talking about him.
- I don't know about his lawyer. first thing to you do is to challenge jurisdiction especially in federal meddling.yurimon
- sounds like someone who reads the newsuuuuuu
- the governments are working too hard to protect the pockets of the rich, than protect the freedoms of the manyomg
- "he decided to make his life become a higher purpose for all and took his own life..". what does that even mean? wouldn't be better if he were alive fighting the battle with others?dijitaq
- he have a better purpose alive? a cop out and hoping others fight for him?dijitaq
- uuuuuu0
1. Tell Congress:
Don't Expand the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act: Fix It!The Computer Fraud and Abuse Act is the law under which Aaron Swartz and other innovators and activists have been threatened with decades in prison. The CFAA is so broad that law enforcement says it criminalizes all sorts of mundane Internet use: Potentially even breaking a website's fine print terms of service agreement. Don't set up a Myspace page for your cat. Don't fudge your height on a dating site. Don't share your Facebook password with anybody: You could be committing a federal crime. (Read more here.)
It's the vagueness and over breadth of this law that allows prosecutors to go after people like Aaron Swartz, who tragically committed suicide earlier this year. The government threatened to jail him for decades for downloading academic articles from the website JSTOR.
Since Aaron's death, activists have cried out for reform of the CFAA. But members of the House Judiciary Committee are actually floating a proposal to expand and strengthen it -- that could come up for a vote as soon as April 10th!
- uuuuuu0
^ they're doing a QnA on Reddit right now...
http://www.reddit.com/r/IAmA/com…
'We are Demand Progress, Aaron Swartz's partner Taren Stinebrickner-Kauffman, the Electronic Frontier Foundation, Fight for the Future, the Competitive Enterprise Institute, Free Press, Orin Kerr, Jennifer Granick, Lawrence Lessig, Marvin Ammori, Tim Berners Lee.'
- detritus1
From: Tim Berners-Lee <>
Date: Sat, 12 Jan 2013 12:06:05 -0500
To: SW-forum Web <>, TAG List <>
Message-Id: <>Aaron is dead.
Wanderers in this crazy world,
we have lost a mentor, a wise elder.Hackers for right, we are one down,
we have lost one of our own.Nurtures, careers, listeners, feeders,
parents all,
we have lost a child.Let us all weep.
timbl