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| Aaron Swartz2008 Wikipedia image |
Notes edited, end
comment by Carolyn Bennett
The eldest son of Susan and Robert Swartz, the latter
founder of the software firm Mark Williams Company, Chicago-native Aaron Swartz
was a high school dropout and an American computer programmer, writer,
political organizer and Internet activist who in 2013 was found dead in his
Brooklyn, New York, apartment, having “hanged himself.”
Swartz contributed to the development of the web feed format
RSS, the organization Creative Commons, the website framework web.py, and the
social news site, Reddit, in which he became a partner after its merger with
his company, Infogami. He then “focused on sociology, civic awareness, and
activism”: founded Watchdog.net, “‘the good government site with teeth,’ to
aggregate and visualize data about politicians”, and wrote Open Access Guerilla
Manifesto (2008); helped launch Progressive Change Campaign Committee “to learn
more about effective online activism” (2009); conducted research studies on
political corruption (academic year 2010-2011 at Harvard University).
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| Aaron Swartz2012Wikipedia image |
The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) police on
January 6, 2011, arrested Swartz. The charge was “state breaking-and-entering”
for having “systematically download[ed] academic journal articles from JSTOR” (pronounced jay-stor, short for Journal
Storage, a digital library founded in 1995). “Federal prosecutors later
charged him with 2 counts of wire fraud and 11 violations of the Computer Fraud
and Abuse Act.” These charges carried cumulative penalties of “$1 million in
fines, 35 years in prison, asset forfeiture, restitution and supervised
release.” In 2013, two days after the prosecution denied his counsel’s “second
offer of a plea bargain, Aaron Swartz was found dead in his Brooklyn, New York,
apartment, where he had hanged himself.”
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he vast majority of people could live a thousand years and
never come close to the accomplishments of this young man. A brilliant life cut
short: Aaron Hillel Swartz, November 8, 1986 – January 11, 2013). Murderers commit
high crimes, retain their high offices, and get off scot-free. How sad.
Sources and notes
Wikipedia biographical notes on Aaron Swartz, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aaron_Swartz
Also: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/JSTOR
Today “The Day We Fight Back”: broad coalition of activist
groups, companies, and online platforms hold a worldwide day of activism in
opposition to the NSA’s mass spying regime; in remembrance of activist, technologist
Aaron Swartz; protest “in his honor, in celebration of victory over the Stop
Online Piracy Act he helped spur” https://thedaywefightback.org/press/_________________________________________________
Bennett's books are available in New York State independent bookstores: Lift Bridge Bookshop: www.liftbridgebooks.com [Brockport, NY]; Sundance Books: http://www.sundancebooks.com/main.html [Geneseo, NY]; Mood Makers Books: www.moodmakersbooks.com [City of Rochester, NY]; Dog Ears Bookstore and Literary Arts Center: www.enlightenthedog.org/ [Buffalo, NY]; Burlingham Books – ‘Your Local Chapter’: http://burlinghambooks.com/ [Perry, NY 14530]; The Bookworm: http://www.eabookworm.com/ [East Aurora, NY] • See also: World Pulse: Global Issues through the eyes of Women: http://www.worldpulse.com/ http://www.worldpulse.com/pulsewire http://www.facebook.com/#!/bennetts2ndstudy
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