Aaron Swartz
Aaron H. Swartz (November 8, 1986 –
January 11, 2013) was an American computer programmer, writer,
archivist, political organizer, and Internet activist. Swartz
co-authored the "RSS 1.0" specification of RSS, and built the website
framework web.py and the architecture for the Open Library. Although
frequently attributed as a co-founder of Reddit, the claim is disputed
by Reddit's original founders.
He also focused on sociology,
civic awareness and activism. In 2010 he was a member of the Harvard
University Center for Ethics. He founded the online group Demand
Progress (which recently voiced its support for Richard O'Dwyer) and
later worked with US and international activist groups Rootstrikers and
Avaaz.
On January 6, 2011, Swartz was arrested in connection with
systematic downloading of academic journal articles from JSTOR, which
became the subject of a federal investigation.
Aaron Swartz Quotes
Information is power. But like all power, there are those who want to keep it for themselves. The world’s entire scientific and cultural
heritage, published over centuries in books and journals, is
increasingly being digitized and locked up by a handful of private
corporations. Want to read the papers featuring the most famous
results of the sciences? You’ll need to send enormous amounts to
publishers like Reed Elsevier.
I’m a teenage kid who’s interested in improving the world (mostly through law, politics, and technology).
“Be curious. Read widely. Try new things. What people call intelligence just boils down to curiosity.”
So that’s why I’m not gay. I hook up with people. I enjoy it. Sometimes
they’re men, sometimes they’re women. I don’t see why it needs to be any
more complicated than that.
The law about what is stealing is very clear. Stealing is taking
something away from someone so they cannot use it. There’s no way that
making a copy of something is stealing under that definition.
Geeks seem a lot more willing to treat people based on what they can do rather than who they are.
We won this fight because everyone made themselves the hero of their
own story. Everyone took it as their job to save this crucial freedom.
They threw themselves into it. They did whatever they could think of to
do. They didn’t stop to ask anyone for permission.
The people rose up, and they caused a sea change in Washington…
The enemies of the freedom to connect have not disappeared.
There’s a battle going on right now, a battle to define everything that
happens on the Internet in terms of traditional things that the law
understands.
Quotes about Aaron Swartz
Aaron Swartz was killed. Killed because he faced an impossible choice.
Killed because he was forced into playing a game he could not win — a
twisted and distorted perversion of justice — a game where the only
winning move was not to play. ~ Anonymous
Aaron, a hero of the internet and a legend among men, was targeted by
a corrupt system that sought to make an example out of him. ~Anonymous
We’ve lost a fighter. We’ve lost somebody who put huge energy into righting wrongs.
So nurturers of the world, everyone who tried to make a place safe to
work or a home safe to live, anyone who listens to another, looks after
another or feeds another, all parents everywhere — we’ve lost a child.
And there’s nothing worse than that. ~Tim Berners-Lee
Two weeks ago today, Aaron Swartz was killed. Killed because he faced
an impossible choice. Killed because he was forced into playing a game
he could not win — a twisted and distorted perversion of justice — a
game where the only winning move was not to play. ~Anonymous
Somehow, we need to get beyond the “I’m right so I’m right to nuke you” ethics that dominates our time. ~ Lawrence Lessig
Aaron had an unbeatable combination of political insight, technical
skill, and intelligence about people and issues. I think he could have
revolutionized American (and worldwide) politics. His legacy may still
yet do so.
I think that the best legacy that — the best tribute we can pay to
Aaron’s legacy is to continue to fight as hard as we can to make this
world a more just, fairer place. ~ Taren Stinebrickner-Kauffman
I received an email from JSTOR
four days before Aaron died, from the president of JSTOR, announcing,
celebrating that JSTOR was going to release all of these journal
articles to anybody around the world who wanted access — exactly what
Aaron was fighting for.
Every time you saw Aaron, he was surrounded by five or 10 different
people who loved and respected and worked with him. He was depressed
because he was increasingly recognizing that the idealism he brought to
this fight maybe wasn’t enough.
I think that the best legacy that — the best tribute we can pay to
Aaron’s legacy is to continue to fight as hard as we can to make this
world a more just, fairer place.
. Aaron swartz was an open data activist.
