Remember Aaron Swartz (1986 – 2013)

http://techfleece.com/ Richard Gailey

I have read so many articles about Aaron over the weekend from many varied sources about his life and achievements. It’s truly amazing for someone so young to have achieved so much in the time he was here. He really will be a great loss.

Andrew me

I also read a lot of articles about his life, the judicial system really had it in for him, sadly this will be ignored by the powers that be , but we can all give our condolences and when the time is right discuss it further and discuss how many people are in a similar situation where the judicial system is used to harass instead of do justice.
- Anonymous
  
  Not “the judicial system”. In this sad case, “the judicial system” has a face.
  
  https://petitions.whitehouse.gov/petition/remove-united-states-district-attorney-carmen-ortiz-office-overreach-case-aaron-swartz
  - Anyone
    
    that link is 404
  - Guest
    
    That petition can’t be reached.
  - Trespass
    
    Try this link:
    
    https://petitions.whitehouse.gov/petition/remove-united-states-district-attorney-carmen-ortiz-office-overreach-case-aaron-swartz/RQNrG1Ck
  - I Have a Dream
    
    Just read what Aaron Swartz had to say back in 2008
    
    http://pastebin.com/XZSuSLJ5
    
    Let’s just forget about the ‘pirate’ bravado, and get down with the true meaning and importance of ‘file sharing’ …
    
    Here is a man who had a dream. A dream in which humanity shared and cooperated for the betterment of all.
    
    Fuck hollywood and the record labels, this is what file sharing is REALLY about.
  - David
    
    Correct Link:
    https://petitions.whitehouse.gov/petition/remove-united-states-district-attorney-carmen-ortiz-office-overreach-case-aaron-swartz/RQNrG1Ck
- Anonpaste
  
  @I have a Dream
  
  Mirrored here too http://www.anonpaste.me/anonpaste2/index.php?390682eedc75871f#xKOeqiD3eeJfzWvzcavECifhX4oOPIerEDq8GUJM3uY=
  
  Discussion of Aaron Swartz’ legacy actively encouraged ;)
  - 7th_Guest
    
    >[...][They call it] stealing or piracy, as if sharing a wealth of knowledge were the moral equivalent of plundering a ship and murdering its crew. But sharing isn’t immoral – it’s a moral imperative. Only those blinded by greed would refuse to let a friend make a copy.[...]
    
    There. Right there. A more true or powerful comment on piracy could not have been hoped for in 2 lines of text. Aaron Swartz may’ve left us, but his vision will remain, as clear and luminous as ever. We’ll keep on sharing because we know it to be the only true, fair and right way to treat culture and we’ll keep on sharing day after day no matter the cost until there is no cost to bear for sharing. But today, let’s share for Aaron.
Open Access In Memoriam

“We need to take information, wherever it is stored, make our copies and share them with the world. We need to take stuff that’s out of copyright and add it to the archive. We need to buy secret databases and put them on the Web. We need to download scientific journals and upload them to file sharing networks….”

Read the full text here http://www.earlham.edu/~peters/fos/2008/09/guerilla-oa.html

“We need to download scientific journals and upload them to file sharing networks….”

You know what to do…
- Cray
  
  He will not be forgotten….
  I cannot claim the Honor of knowing him personally but felt the waves he, and many others, created across the very breadth and depth of the Net itself.
  He will not be forgotten….
  Those waves will build and continue to Smash upon the once thought impenetrable bastion cliffs of Hypocracy and the Ways of the Dead and Corrupt.
  He will Not be Forgotten…
  The Old Ways will Erode first then crumble as so much Sand into Time. New Paths will form into and out of Our Digital Frontier. The Horizon is ours and The Aaron Swartz’ of this world helped us in knowing we had the right to seek to strive and not to yield.
  
  Unlike the Greedy, Ivory Tower Dwellers, The Banksters, The Protectors and Clerics of the Dark Machinations that would see us all sealed up behind Walls of Their Design – Only allowed to Pass through Gates under Their Control, Forced to Pay Tithes And Tolls for their Sickness so They can feel Justified in their Twisted, Wasted and Based on the Very Worthlessness of the Money they exchange beteen themselves in a pathetic attempt to add value to their meaningless Lives…
  He Will NOT be Forgotten….
  
  I am he as you are he as you are me and we are all together.
  See how they run like pigs from a gun, see how they fly.
  I’m crying –
  Today I am Not the Only one Crying.
  
  “My heart has joined the Thousand, for my friend stopped running today.”
  
  But We are are left behind will run Faster, climb Higher… No Paywall, Firewall or Ivory Tower Will help The Wasted and Uselss, Twisted and Sick in their Money obsessed Haze….
  
  Aaronbelieved in the green light, the orgastic future that year by year recedes before us. It eluded us then, but that’s no matter—tomorrow we will run faster, stretch out our arms farther. . . . And then one fine morning—
  So we beat on, boats against the current, borne back ceaselessly into the past.
  
  And Together, We shall buils ourselves a Better Future.
  
  Thank you Aaron Swartz. Thank you for Lighting this Flame in so Many of Us.
  For giving us the Tools to take that Flame to Light the Darkness so More can see to help.. And to Take the Flame that we may use to Burn down those Gided Castels and Crumbling Ivory Towers, the Excremental Citadels of those who would enslave us…
  
  Thanks you Aaron Swartz…
  You Will Not Be Forrgotten.
  
  Regards, To All. Now Excuse me, I have Pitchforks to Sharpen and Torches to Prime and I have been slow and Lazy in my Duty of Late.
  But No More, Not with the Fire in Me Now.
  
  Cray
- Aaron Swartz July 2008
  
  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.
  
  There are those struggling to change this. The Open Access Movement has fought valiantly to ensure that scientists do not sign their copyrights away but instead ensure their work is published on the Internet, under terms that allow anyone to access it. But even under the best scenarios, their work will only apply to things published in the future. Everything up until now will have been lost.
  
  That is too high a price to pay. Forcing academics to pay money to read the work of their colleagues? Scanning entire libraries but only allowing the folks at Google to read them? Providing scientific articles to those at elite universities in the First World, but not to children in the Global South? It’s outrageous and unacceptable.
  
  “I agree,” many say, “but what can we do? The companies hold the copyrights, they make enormous amounts of money by charging for access, and it’s perfectly legal — there’s nothing we can do to stop them.” But there is something we can, something that’s already being done: we can fight back.
  
  Those with access to these resources — students, librarians, scientists — you have been given a privilege. You get to feed at this banquet of knowledge while the rest of the world is locked out. But you need not — indeed, morally, you cannot — keep this privilege for yourselves. You have a duty to share it with the world. And you have: trading passwords with colleagues, filling download requests for friends.
  
  Meanwhile, those who have been locked out are not standing idly by. You have been sneaking through holes and climbing over fences, liberating the information locked up by the publishers and sharing them with your friends.
  
  But all of this action goes on in the dark, hidden underground. It’s called stealing or piracy, as if sharing a wealth of knowledge were the moral equivalent of plundering a ship and murdering its crew. But sharing isn’t immoral — it’s a moral imperative. Only those blinded by greed would refuse to let a friend make a copy.
  
  Large corporations, of course, are blinded by greed. The laws under which they operate require it — their shareholders would revolt at anything less. And the politicians they have bought off back them, passing laws giving them the exclusive power to decide who can make copies.
  
  There is no justice in following unjust laws. It’s time to come into the light and, in the grand tradition of civil disobedience, declare our opposition to this private theft of public culture.
  
  We need to take information, wherever it is stored, make our copies and share them with the world. We need to take stuff that’s out of copyright and add it to the archive. We need to buy secret databases and put them on the Web. We need to download scientific journals and upload them to file sharing networks. We need to fight for Guerilla Open Access.
  
  With enough of us, around the world, we’ll not just send a strong message opposing the privatization of knowledge — we’ll make it a thing of the past. Will you join us?
  
  Aaron Swartz
  
  July 2008, Eremo, Italy
Trespass

Very sad… We can do this for him:

https://petitions.whitehouse.gov/petition/remove-united-states-district-attorney-carmen-ortiz-office-overreach-case-aaron-swartz/RQNrG1Ck
- Enough is enough
  
  Signed
- http://techfleece.com/ Richard Gailey
  
  Signed
Chiasmus64

Great article on Swartz at the Washington Post: http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/wonkblog/wp/2013/01/12/aaron-swartz-american-hero/?tid=pm_pop
- http://techfleece.com/ Richard Gailey
  
  Just been reading that. I have also been watching a ton of some of the talks that he did that are on YouTube.
  
  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a8phAC9sDkE
  
  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fgh2dFngFsg
  
  He was actively involved in so much that affected us all. It’s such a shame that such an elegant voice is now silent.
Wally

This event by far outweighs the death of Duayne Blhemm. Apparently, without Swartz, most of the internet news would be read on forums rather than RSS.

cr

His death is due to Publishers and corrupt (in)Justice Department

Guest

Mostly the Justice system.
He faced a million dollar fine and >35 years in jail.
Not because the company prosecuted, they dropped all charges, but because the Government wanted to increase the powers of the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act (1984). Even though the powers that be stated that such matters as downloading and abusing sites’ TOS should be left to a civil court to decide, Assistant U.S. Attorneys Stephen P. Heymann and Scott L. Garland pursued the criminal case against Swartz under U.S. attorney Carmen M. Ortiz.
(See Wiki)
A life held in the balance of Justice means no life at all. So sad.
- Othermails
  
  Not totally true. JSTOR dropped all charges, but the MIT didn’t.
  - icec0ld
    
    That’s the opposite of what is stated on the wiki and multiple sites

Whatever

“This is not the place to speculate …..”

It would be wise then to not allow comments for once (and remove this one).

Guest

Why? Aaron was against censoring anything like this.
It is right to speculate. His family have stated:

‘…his suicide was “not simply a personal tragedy”, but “the product of a criminal justice system rife with intimidation and prosecutorial overreach”, with “decisions made by officials in the Massachusetts U.S. Attorney’s office and at MIT [contributing] to his death.”

Says it all really.
- John Space
  
  Suicide is not killing oneself; it is always a situation where they force you to choose between death or a fate worse than that.
  
  RSS is one of my favorite Internet thingies ever. Thank you Swartz; you’re going to the Celestial Net.
  - bobmail
    
    John, sorry, you are just not right.
    
    Suicide is killing yourself because you cannot face the choices in front of you. For someone who is depressive, it’s generally because they are unable to see a way forward, and feel they can only release their burdens (and the burdens they often mistakenly feel they put on others) through killing themselves.
    
    Aaron was certainly an intelligent guy, but at the same time even the most intelligent person working against the tide of depression will have bad days. Depending on the scope of his illness, the pressures of legal action, of life in general, and perceived self-failings are enough to push him over the edge.
    
    It’s sad because we lost a great mind.
    
    His family are “speculating” (as Guest quoted) because they are unwilling to accept that with or without the legal issues, their son and brother was suffering from depression. It takes a lot less for a depressed person to make that sort of choice, it happens all the time. Their denial at this point is the first step in grieving, at some point they will come to accept that no single thing caused this, just a collection of life choices made by Aaron that lead him to feel he had no other acceptable choice.
    
    It’s sad, but suicide is something that a person does to themselves, nobody else does it for them.
  - tetridae
    
    oh, come on bobmail..
    
    “It’s sad, but suicide is something that a person does to themselves, nobody else does it for them.”
    
    Depression can be induced by systematic bullying. If you don’t understand that, then you are either a sadist or a psycopath.
  - Who
    
    “Suicide is not killing oneself” O:o ?
    
    “Suicide is defined as the intentional taking of one’s own life”
    
    http://medical-dictionary.thefreedictionary.com/suicide
  - Dex
    
    “Suicide is not killing oneself; it is always a situation where they force you to choose between death or a fate worse than that”.
    
    That can apply to this case, they’re really going to ruin his life,
    but there are already many cases where people committed suicide
    by trivial reasons like failing a regular school exam.
  - Chiasmus64
    
    bobmail, you’re such a tool: don’t be so quick to jump on the medicalization bandwagon and chalk up suicide to the non-entity ‘depression’. Of course it’s easier to conceptualize this stuff if we operate under the fallacious metaphor of comparing depression to a psychological virus (i.e., something beyond our control, because based on genetics, neurochemistry, etc.), but the truth is that the world counts, how we’re (mis)treated matters. There are things out in the world that drive us towards certain actions, and only bobtools reduce complex behavior to pop-neurological categories like ‘depression.’
  - Guest
    
    @bobmail
    
    Playing apologist for the copyright monopoly and the corrupted government even at a time like this?
    
    Very classy.
  - Jimmy671
    
    @bobmail
    
    I expect no better from the likes of you.
    You are just a Cold Heartless Bastard,your comment deserves no further answer.
  - icec0ld
    
    @Bobmail
    
    Wow. You are such a sad excuse for a human being that I’m ashamed that I have to be part of the same human race as you.
  - hitanshu_conman
    
    Can’t reply using logic so obviously @bobmail is a coldhearted copyright loving bastard, right guys? I see how Torrentfreak works.
  - Conanshu_hitman
    
    @hitanshu_conman
    
    Bobmail’s a regular troll. Just chosen the wrong story to try to pick a fight over.
    The troll has often espoused some fairly repugnant and inhuman views, but trying to start something on this particular comment thread is sinking to a new low.
  - bobmail
    
    I sort of figured that stating reality would get a few of you upset. Too bad that you are so busy trying to play pin the tail on the donkey to bother accepting the reality of what happened. Someone you respect and admire committed suicide, as a result of long term depression (which started long before his legal issues, BTW).
    
    @tetridae : Depression can be brought on by many things. I have a number of friends and people I have known in my life with depression, and their reasons are as varied as they come. One thing that is in common is that the trigger event for the current depression isn’t the root cause, it’s just something that triggers their mental processes to head down negative paths, where they sort of end up in a feedback loop of negative thoughts that make things worse and worse for them.
    
    Long term depression isn’t simple. 2 of my friends committed suicide in the last decade as a result of depression, the real reasons for their final fatal acts were both so trivial as to be meaningless, but for their logic and reasoning, they merited the final choice.
    
    Aaron was a very smart guy, very intelligent, but even he freely admitted to his depression years ago, and admitted that often he didn’t feel that he was worth it or doing things that meant anything, etc.
    
    @Chiasmus64: Depression isn’t an entity, However, it is a leading cause of suicide, because it creates mental processes and thought chains that make facing reality (situation, personal judgement, family judgement, peer pressure, and yes, legal issues) seem so much worse than ending your life. It’s not a nice thing, it’s not very pleasant, and certainly something that I hope you and your family never have to face, even in someone you care about. It’s incredibly painful to see someone in that condition.
    
    @Jimmy: Far from being a cold heartless bastard, I am actually a pretty emtional an caring sort of a dude. However, I think it’s important for people here to understand what happened, and rather than deny reality and try to blame the suicide on a third party, that we set back and accept that it’s something that someone does to themselves for their own reasons, however bad those reasons are. Nothing that Aaron faced was worth taking his life over. He chose to do it, and understanding why he chose it is important. Simply blaming it on legal troubles of whatever is a true failing. Understanding that Aaron was a genius but also emotionally troubled is to remember him as a real person, and not an abstract 2 dimensional “killed by the man” pop-up card.
    
    Sympathy doesn’t mean denial.
    
    @icec0ld: Honestly, when you become an adult, and perhaps have to deal with a situation like this in your real life, you might think back and realize what this was really all about. Until then, you probably haven’t earned your place in the world yet, and one day you might. It’s just sad to see that you cannot accept that Aaron was ultimately responsibly for his own choices and his own actions, in life and in death. Nobody killed Aaron, except Aaron. It’s incredibly sad, I feel sorry for his family and friends, but nobody else did it, just Aaron.
    
    @hitanshu_conman: You are correct. Sadly, the reactions here aren’t ones of grief for a lost human, for losing someone great, but rather a convenient way to stoke the fires against the boogiemen that the TF types rail against. It’s in times like these that the true colors are shown. They cannot accept Aaron as a troubled but incredibly intelligent man, they just want to make him into a martyr and victim of the machine they rage against. There are many steps to grieving, and denial is up top. I guess they will be stuck on step 1 for a while, which is sad for them.
    
    RIP Aaron, the world will miss you. It’s too bad that you couldn’t find another solution that wasn’t so complete.
  - Guest
    
    Do you think we’re too stupid to realize that the crusade to crucify Aaron probably compounded his depression?
    
    Fuck off, bobmail. Now is not the time or place to play MAFIAA-defender.
  - TL;DR
    
    “Suicide is killing yourself because you cannot face the choices in front of you.”
    
    Choices which were placed there by a very powerful, not to mention corrupt, justice system full of back biting, social climbing people with petty desires and no honor who are willing to abuse that system to further their own ambitions.
    
    Do you honestly expect us to believe depression is the only reason one would ever end their own life? That is what it sounds like, to which I would say you’re living in denial. Don’t let this observation upset you as it’s actually proof there is some iota of humanity left in you. As much as you support the copyright maximalist position, often to truly absurd levels regardless of the facts I might add, there is a side of you that abhors the machinations of our justice system in this truly tragic tale. Denial is just your way of dealing with the truth and protecting your faith in all that is copyright, even if you’re only aware of said truth on a subconscious level.
    
    And what truth is that you may ask? The fact that depression is not the only reason one would commit suicide. Take a look at history and you’ll find more than a few examples of committing suicide for a very real purpose. Sometimes it would be at ones own hands, other times it involved allowing others to perform the act. All took willpower and courage most don’t have. As strange as it may sound there have been many cultures throughout history whom saw the act as both necessary and honorable. There are even some that still do today. Unfortunately there are tragic reasons as well, such as depression as you noted, bobmail.
    
    Sadly depression isn’t the only tragic circumstance in which one may find themselves with no other way out. There are no doubt untold scores of men, women, and even children throughout human history whom have found themselves the unwitting victim of those with no honor and evil in their hearts. Trapped with no way out, these victims have had their choices reduced to near nothing, finding themselves inevitably forced to choose between enduring unbelievable pain and misery for the rest of their lives, or a swift death.
    
    There is a point at which a human can lose all hope, where they cannot take anymore punishment at the hands of evil men. It may be hard for anyone who hasn’t gone though their own trial by fire to understand, but the fact is that losing all hope and choosing death is not automatically the result of depression. It can in fact be the other way around, when one realizes the only practical solution to their predicament (or the predicament of others) is their own death and thus become depressed by that fact. It all comes down to circumstance, something we rarely have control of, especially when we believe we do. To toss out depression as a sole explanation and leave it at that reeks of both laziness and a fear of facing inevitable truths whose implications obviously scare you.
    
    Having a hard time comprehending all of this? I’ll put it another way then. If you found yourself trapped with absolutely no feasible way out, how much physical punishment and/or mental anguish do you think you could take before you give in to the inevitable? Everyone dies, nobody escapes this fate. And while we usually cannot control how we die, if we’re lucky we can control when we die if we so choose. I’m not depressed, yet even so I’m also not afraid to admit that there are limits to how much I can endure, that I am willing to take the path of suicide if it were the only one left to me, especially if doing so meant aiding others in some way. In this particular instance, as it pertains to Aaron Swartz, saving others from pain and misery was exactly his goal.
    
    Now you’ll obviously jump on that by stating he didn’t accomplish that goal, that in effect he actually caused it by killing himself. Ahhh, but did he really? I know it’s hard for you to understand, but in his mind he weighed the two against each another and decided the pain caused to loved ones by the ending of his life, an end none of us can escape remember, would be significantly less than the pain of watching him go through a long, slow, agonizing end that is it’s own death of a sort. Is life without liberty and freedom, ideals Aaron obviously cared deeply about and fought to protect, really life at all? Our very lives are not the only thing we have to lose after all. There are other aspects of our being, many in fact, that would be far worse to lose than our life. Only someone with honor, someone who cares a great deal about something far larger than himself, could ever hope to truly understand that.
    
    Based on the life he lived, it is pretty clear honor was something Aaron had in spades. If only we were all half the man he was, the world would be a much better place. Sadly, thanks to folks like Stephen P. Heymann, Scott L. Garland, and Carmen M. Ortiz who rig the system and abuse it for their own selfish ends, it’s not. And until we’re all willing to stand up and force it to change, it never will be meaning Aaron, along with those whom came before and all whom follow after, will have fought, suffered, and died for nothing.
  - icec0ld
    
    @bobmail
    
    “Honestly, when you become an adult, and perhaps have to deal with a situation like this in your real life, you might think back and realize what this was really all about. Until then, you probably haven’t earned your place in the world yet, and one day you might. It’s just sad to see that you cannot accept that Aaron was ultimately responsibly for his own choices and his own actions, in life and in death. Nobody killed Aaron, except Aaron. It’s incredibly sad, I feel sorry for his family and friends, but nobody else did it, just Aaron.”
    
    I very much doubt you know my age so in the future, please refrain from talking down to me.
    
    “Long term depression isn’t simple. 2 of my friends committed suicide in the last decade as a result of depression, the real reasons for their final fatal acts were both so trivial as to be meaningless, but for their logic and reasoning, they merited the final choice.
    
    Aaron was a very smart guy, very intelligent, but even he freely admitted to his depression years ago, and admitted that often he didn’t feel that he was worth it or doing things that meant anything, etc”
    
    I very much doubt you knew or know anyone with depression. Let alone someone who killed themselves because of it. What you speak of, you have likely never had to deal with in you life and I for hope you never have to. If you had, you wouldn’t be making such horrid and inconsiderate statements.
    
    You imply that none of the factors beyond their “final” trigger have any meaning? Who are you to say such heartless things? Who are you to judge triggers as though you can apply cause and affect to a psychological deposition? If he was a knowingly depressed subject in the past, how is it that the prosecution has ignored the clear effect that asking for seeking such an unmeasured and frankly, inhuman level of punishment for what was essentially, a none case. The suggests gross negligence and irresponsibility on many levels
    
    You are here to do one thing. Deflect criticism of the conduct of the prosecution that has clearly played a very major role in this tragedy. Stop pretending anything else.
  - bobmail
    
    @icec0ld: You are clueless, incorrect, and wrong. I may have missed your age, but you do appear to be writing like someone with absolutely no life experience.
    
    Let’s let Aaron RIP, and keep your mindless and disrepectful comments for some other time, okay?
  - icec0ld
    
    @bobmail “You are clueless, incorrect, and wrong. I may have missed your age, but you do appear to be writing like someone with absolutely no life experience.”
    
    Right back at you, mister “Suicide is his fault”. Spoken like someone with so little experience in the matter.
    
    “Let’s let Aaron RIP, and keep your mindless and disrepectful comments for some other time, okay?”
    
    Mindless and disrespectful? Lets keep in mind the infuriatingly insensitive comments you’ve made that are directly above your most recent postings? Wait until the next article to pretend you’ve said nothing wrong to avoid looking stupid and insensitive next time,
  - Anon
    
    well i think self termination goes against the bible and it is considered the ultimate sin from what I understand, but besides that sex w/o marrige x when x how many times x with whome (did u fuck the devil or a spiritual being) and did u have sex underage or what, so hope that helps
  - Netjpiraters_mom
    
    Bobmail, in way over his head:
    
    “Suicide is killing yourself because you cannot face the choices in front of you. For someone who is depressive, it’s generally because they are unable to see a way forward …”
    
    Got it. You’re saying suicide is a response to depression. Depression is not generally caused by an inability to see a way forward in any way, but I’ll allow it.
    
    And then:
    
    “at some point they will come to accept that no single thing caused this, just a collection of life choices made by Aaron that lead him to feel he had no other acceptable choice.”
    
    So suicide is caused by life choices, not depression. Got it.
    
    You are a true, true dirtbag. You are pus.
  - N_mailer
    
    @hitanshu_conman
    
    “Can’t reply using logic so obviously @bobmail is a coldhearted copyright loving bastard”
    
    Bobmail isn’t interested in a logical discussion — he leeringly suggested on this particular “in memoriam” thread that Aaron’s suicide was “caused” by his “life choices.”
    
    He either gets off on screaming “fag” at a funeral (like punishment-loving Anon) or he’s interested in impressing someone with his diligence in taking every opportunity, no matter how inappropriate, to talk about the dangers of not checking with the big boys before communicating online.
    
    Obviously, he’s not trying to impress us. So he’s either trying to impress someone who pays him by the comment or he’s trying to impress the horned demon whose thorny cock he sucks for sustenance.
  - Netjpiraters_mom
    
    “I sort of figured that stating reality would get a few of you upset.”
    
    Don’t flatter yourself, Bobonmyprickmail. The reality that he killed himself because of depression, simply stated, would not have been controversial or threatening.
    
    We are angry that your leering (and self-contradictory) insinuation that Aaron’s “life choices” are to blame, and now, your leering assertion that “stating reality” was was provoked us, suggest that you are here to troll, not to be honest. And you are not welcome.
    
    My son and Anon stick to bizarre fictions about the really sleepy subject of file-sharing. Follow their example.
  - G2G cat on fire
    
    @bobmail
    
    How about you catch the next boat to Fuckoff Island?
- Whatever
  
  It is/was not about censoring anything.
  
  It’s just leaving this sad event as it is without anyone using it to troll. TF could have used a next article for that (There will certainly be a next if TFs past is anything to go by).
  - Whatever
    
    Just a small addition (can’t edit) to previous:
    
    If it was the intention of TF by using that sentence to leave speculation alone instead of provoking then there should have been no possibility for comments this time or better not mention it at all.
AgathaPenis

We can remember him as an amazing, intelligent and inspirational individual and criticise a world where those qualities would put him behind bars…

No speculation – just remembrance and condolences to his family.

He will be missed.

Henrik Hjelm

we will meet on the pirate ship in heaven.

Truthseeker

he was killed …

Alien8

On January 11, 2013, Swartz was found dead in his Crown Heights, Brooklyn, apartment; where he had hanged himself.
- cr
  
  making someone’s life un-livable is murder
  
  if anything pushing someone to suicide is much nastier and more insidious
- tetridae
  
  This type of systematic bullying he has faced is murder-by-proxy.
- 7th_Guest
  
  Which only serves to make the deed even more vile and insidious.

ConorB

R.I.P

TheBig1

What a loss for the community, online as well as offline.
Condolences to the family.

Alien8

I’ll will check your RSS-feeds and AMA’s that you will send from heaven…

Rest in peace bro…

guess who

he didn’t kill himself, he was brutaly and malicioiusly murderd by a corrupt and facist legal system.

may he rest in peace and long may his legacy continue to keep our internet freedom(s).

tetridae

This type of systematic bullying is murder-by-proxy.
- guess who
  
  an assasination in all but name.
  - Anonymouse
    
    Are you sure it’s all but name.
Anon

lol
- Guest
  
  Anon confirmed for literal psychopath.

oneone123

Facing 50 years of prison he decided to leave free

Vengador

Also remember who was directly responsible for his death and threatened him with 30+ years in prison – sign the petition: https://petitions.whitehouse.gov/petition/remove-united-states-district-attorney-carmen-ortiz-office-overreach-case-aaron-swartz/RQNrG1Ck

http://nejtillpirater.wordpress.com/ Nejtillpirater

Although a tragical suicide, it was his own decision to commit crimes. If you can’t face the consequences – don’t do it!
- Calm
  
  For fucks sake you nasty little troll give it a break for once.
  - Not In His Name
    
    Mods, please unflag Nejtillpirater’s comment. Although the comment was flagged for being “inappropriate or offensive”, Aaron would not of approved of censorship.
    
    Do we honour his legacy by implementing censorship?
    
    Freedom of speech means to tolerate ideas different to that of one’s own.
    
    There is a saying that goes something along the lines of – “Better to say nothing and be thought of as a fool, than to open one’s mouth and prove it.”
- Trespass
  
  Just take the day off, you are not welcome here today.
- Ffs
  
  I’m starting to think you’re not a paid shill, but genuinely stupid and brainwashed.
- tetridae
  
  If no one ever commited crimes we would still be some medieval theocratic tyranny by now. Freedom of speech was outlawed several times througout histiory, you know.
  - Techanon
    
    If nobody ever committed crimes christianism wouldn’t have had any chance at all.
- guess who
  
  jesus, who gave the krays internet acces?
- Jimmy671
  
  Hopefully the same fate will befall YOU.

Anonymous

what is so sad about this is the people in the various law enforcement and various industries that, really, were the instigators, the ones that brought about this tragedy, will just think to themselves ‘well, that’s another one out of the way! another thorn in the side gone! someone else that we dont have to deal with by changing the ‘crimes’ so as to suit the punishment we want to dish out!’

our society is so corrupt now, so much more based on protecting corporations and industries instead of the people, i doubt if we will ever get back to what it not only should be but what it once was more like.

Guest

Most unfortunate.

Corrupt USA

R.I.P.
He just wanted to share stuff for free and got caught up in it with a 50 year jailsentence looming over his head. That’s fucked. Even JSTOR wouldnt have pursued him in civil court, yet you got DA’s / Attorneys that are ready to make a name for themselves by putting this youngster in jail. Pathetic.

http://nejtillpirater.wordpress.com/ Nejtillpirater

“This is not the place to speculate about any of the circumstances that led Aaron to his decision, or what it should mean going forward.”

So why do it?

Corrupt USA

Have some respect for the kid that actually invented a technology. Don’t see you innovating new ways of monetizing your product. Instead you limit releases to geographical locations and methods to watch it. Guess what – When Skyfall wasnt running in my local cinemas anymore, where do you think I was able to watch it? Muppet. You think I’ll wait 6 months for a DVD release?
- Anonymous
  
  well said. shame it falls on the deaf ears of twats like Nejtillpirater and his masters! because of the labels attitude, the public and other businesses lose out. the ‘Autorip’ service now started by Amazon whereby a person buying a cd also gets a free mp3 copy was delayed for 14 years. their need to control copyright was more important then. now, with the decline of the cd, it’s too late! that’s really encouraging innovation, isn’t it! rampant stupidity at it’s best!
Scary_Devil_Monastery

Because although he may be gone, the people who systematically hounded him to death – over making available for the taxpayers the research papers already bought and paid for by the taxpayers – are still there.

Things will not be right until they are not anymore.

Now go home and celebrate where no one else can see you, please.

chris_p_bacon(R.O.L.L)

i feel very sad and humbled to be able to express my deep sympathy to all his surviving family and friends. I do not agree with”the easy way out” but in this case i find myself very taken aback at such a waste of a vibrant life, and a great loss to us all as i am sure he would have gone on to invent many more pieces of software had the authorities not been so negative towards his genius.
Rest In Peace,
Although i never knew you
a shall never forget you
Aaron Swartz

bogdanj

Rest In Peace. We miss you.

http://pulse.yahoo.com/_4CUFGPXYI63VY7JGZWHBB2NI4Q albie

He topped himself,a very selfish act for his family and friends

ken147

Can we seriously stop calling suicide “selfish”.
tetridae

Implying he wasn’t bullied into it.
Carolina

Most useless comment. Be proud at your self….nobody else will.

And don’t get excited about the “like^, it was me pressing the wrong button.
Bob

Selfish is defined by a desire for some sort of personal gain.

I fail to see what he gained here.

Calling something that comes out of mental illness and or intense fear of something worse (he would not have done well in jail and likely would have not survived it) is ignorant beyond belief.

Guest

Why won’t MAFIAA die?

GreenPirate

Nice post, Ernesto. Thanks for not being a media circus.

jrau18

Am I the only one who has no clue who the fuck this is?

JOOLUV

just another chosen one who was up to no good.
- jrau18
  
  Then whoever did the choosing needs to choose better.
- Scary_Devil_Monastery
  
  Ah. By “no good” you mean that he made available research papers for which the public had already paid?
  
  Low. Even for the pro-copyright maximalists.
  - http://gene-poole.tumblr.com Gene Poole
    
    Aaron Swartz is going to replace “Attica” as the most shouted activist chant here pretty quickly, mark my words. We didn’t want a martyr, but here we are.
http://profiles.google.com/chris2fm chris moran

Yes. Or, you’re the only one too fucking lazy/stupid to find out.
- jrau18
  
  Yeah, jackass, I actually did go find out. Doesn’t magically mean I had any idea before this article was posted. Never even heard of the guy.
  - Carolina
    
    You should have included the word “before” in your first post.
    Read your own post…..it gives the impression that you didn’t even read the article/comments.
    Just a misunderstanding..?
  - Carolina
    
    (Replying to the next comment of this poster)
    
    Weird….
    I found a lot of interesting stuff in the article, comments and links….
    
    Speaking of vaginas. Long time no see “vaginas” and “pussy”?
    Next time FIRST seek the helping right hand and post AFTER that. You So Mad!!
  - Shit Blizzard
    
    @jrau18
    
    well, aren’t ya just the sweetest bundle of roses?
    
    jackass
  - jrau18
    
    Says the guy called “Shit Blizzard”
Embrace Change

Yes.
Scary_Devil_Monastery

One of the guys who helped invent the RSS feed? To begin with?
- jrau18
  
  See? That’s helpful. thank you.

Sense

I got this new by RSS.

Well, thanks you for the RSS technology that I use everyday!

Joemama

The Brightest Flames burn out the quickest :(

Socrates

Or, as in this case, are extinguished by government thugs.

“It is not living that matters, but living rightly.”

DocGerbil100

So long and thanks for all the feeds, Mr Swartz.
Much obliged.
:’(

Earth Star

Are you 12? Or just uneducated? I’m sad you even have a computer.

DutchGuest

And again a man is pushed to the breaking point and beyond, by a system run by power and money hungry imbeciles, with no regard for human life.
A sad day indeed.

Anyone

the MAFIAA kills :(

Guest

Gross. Pimping this person’s death to rationalize your thievery?
Disgusting. A special place in hell awaits you.
- BuddhaFacePalmed
  
  @Guest
  
  Thievery?? This man advocated the freedom of information, not only those too poor to afford paying the gatekeepers’ “toll”, but for all of us who would benefit more from scientific journals that the gatekeepers would much rather not let you have it.
  
  True thievery are for those who would give you the illusion of choice. They take away knowledge to feed you their lies, their smokes and mirrors, and their castoffs so you’ll be forever be dependent on them.
  
  R.I.P. Aaron Swartz. May you ever be an exemplar to us all
  - Guest
    
    ok fine, then why did the asswipe above me have to bring up the MPAA?
    
    To pimp this tragic event.
    
    It’s deplorable and you know it.
  - Scary_Devil_Monastery
    
    @Guest
    
    “ok fine, then why did the asswipe above me have to bring up the MPAA?”
    
    MPAA, RIAA, JSTOR, Ifpi…does it really matter which individual front-line thug you point out?
    
    In this case, what matters is that the people Aaron fought became his death. The best service we can render his memory now is to bear that in mind.
  - Anon
    
    “It’s deplorable and you know it.”
    
    You’re worse. And that’s coming from me, the pro-MAFIAA punishment king
- Carolina
  
  Disgusting? Now look who’s talking…. .
  I find it really disgusting that you point the finger at someone else with the sole purpose to express your “vision” about thievery. (where did you copy/paste it from?)
  If heaven is full with people like you, I prefer Hell.
- Scary_Devil_Monastery
  
  What he was accused to was making research papers available for the general public.
  
  Said research papers were manufactured using government – i.e. taxpayer – money.
  
  The manufacture of that research being paid for by the taxpayers the results were already public property.
  
  And for this he was hounded to suicide by psychopaths such as you. Thank you for showing us what you and your kind stand for. Again.
  - Netjpiraters_mom
    
    “And for this he was hounded to suicide by psychopaths such as you.”
    
    EXACTLY. Aaron’s deal did not involve the MPAA, but the MAFIAA buddies are incapable of defending their honor in a decent way. The psychopaths, thugs and bullies have gathered at their feet, and as long as they get to bully they don’t care about the excuse.
- Not_My_Guest
  
  “Pimping this person’s death to rationalize your thievery?”
  
  The MAFIAA aren’t fighting thievery. They’re fighting private communications that may or may not include large audio or video files.
  
  Wherever hell he goes to, he’ll still be sitting on a toilet poised over your-wired-open mouth because you reached for an excuse to post the “thievery” lie on this thread.
- Michael098
  
  Read the article carefully,then you might understand
  what Anyone meant by his comment.
  It was not disrespectful.
- G2G cat on fire
  
  “Pimping this person’s death to rationalize your thievery?”
  
  what theivery? there’s no thievery
  
  oohhhh you mean the theft of the public domain and rights, and in some cases money from artists themselves, so the 1% and their followers can continue to stay rich and ruling over us peasants
  
  yeah, thaaat thievery, it IS gross and disgusting
  
  “A special place in hell awaits you.”
  
  with people like you and the MAFIAA around, we’re already IN hell!

Phil Landry

We can’t speculate for the reason of his suicide, but evidently It’s easy to believe that the whole thing was motivated by the pending legal turmoil he faced. I just hope, this action will not influence other great minds to take this path.

Guest

You did see the article of earthquake scientists being arrested, tried and convicted for getting a prediction wrong? I tell you, the governments are are a conglomeration of retards. We are ruled by the dumb and the dumbest ones sit at the apex of the pile like the King Canutes, leading us all to a technological standstill, all the while listening to the poisonous whispers of grasping money men.

R.I.P. Aaron.

MuffinTroll2013

Corrupt authority is the worst scum. Criminal cops, corrupt heartless lawyers, and their slimy followers deserve to age in jail, then die and finally burn in hell.

thenutman69321

So you wanna honor this guy but you can’t post a little info about who he is. 90% of people are not going to know a single thing about him or have ever even heard his name before.

thenutman69321

Haha I’m stupid. You linked to his wiki article.
- Guest
  
  Right on both counts, sir.

Rlhkqhsa

I read the part in the Wikipedia article where it says that if convicted by the court, he was to receive a 35(!) years jail sentence PLUS a 1 million$ dollar fine.

Because of the mentally FUCKED people who proposed this crap, a man with serious brains and intelligence is now dead.
Because he wanted to share academic journals for free and 0 fucking profit.

He didn’t commit suicide, you freaks MURDERED him.
I bet you’ll count your money and go to bed sleeping like babies tonight, like nothing happened.
But don’t you worry, you’ll get yours eventually because in this life nothing goes unpunished.

R.I.P
I really feel for his loved ones.

Scary_Devil_Monastery

“Because he wanted to share academic journals for free and 0 fucking profit.”

Correction – “Because he wanted to share academic journals whose manufacture was already paid for by taxpayer money for free and 0 fucking profit” – is more true.

True North

some background on who he was and what he accomplished woulda been nice TF, instead of having to go to Wiki for the Full Story on Aaron

Waydownsouth

Oh, the internet, how I love your technology that lets me follow links to other sites for more in-depth information about a story. But how I deplore that technology for making me HAVE to click my lazy-ass mouse finger.

/sarcasm

I know it’s not the time or place to be sarcastic, but COME ON FFS! I’m sure the guys at TF felt that this post wasn’t the place to have to list Aaron’s work and achievements and a link to a comprehensive wiki article would be more suitable. I suppose they didn’t count on rampant apathy.
- Guess Who
  
  if that copyright wores win, it will be because of ‘rampant apathy’ and the sheeplike tendencies of most people.

Anon

If you cannot find the common decency to simply offer an RIP and condolences to his family, then at least recognize that many of us here have been advising hackers and pirates for a decade or more.

The governments of the world, not just the USA, civilized society itself will NEVER TOLERATE the kind of anarchic acts that were evidently committed by this brilliant but troubled young coder.

There is nothing you can say or do to alter this historic and clearly defined trend and unless you are willing to physically overthrow your government, there are far more worthy fights to be fought. Perhaps Aaron Swartz finally realized this.

He was a visionary young man, talented and true to his own principles but on a collision course with a reality he created all himself. Either rise up or shut up because now is the time. And for God’s sake, get some respect for this loss and this tragic event. I hope he rests in peace.

Anyone

fuck off
Trespass

STFU. Take the day off. I’m sure paid shills get paid time off. This is not the page for your sanctimonious illogical rantings. Tomorrow is another day. Respect.
Guest

Don’t ask us to “have some respect for this loss” when you’re using his suicide as a tool push your agenda, you fucking psychopath.

Not only to you have zero respect for Aaron Swartz, you have zero respect for his thoughts, his goals, and his life’s work.

To you this event is just another opportunity to exploit.

In the spirit of the free culture movement that Swartz fought for, let me clear up a few things.

No civilized society EVER TOLERATES the hoarding of knowledge and culture by jealous gatekeepers. Those who seek to be such gatekeepers will either be marginalized, ignored, or if need be destroyed. Real history has born this out countless times.

The fake history you speak of, where the law is immutable and the people are powerless before their rulers, is a truly odious fiction that is dispelled the moment that anyone opens an actual history book.

I think the best way to honour Aaron is to let his life and death galvanize us to share more, subvert better, and spit harder in the faces of the paper tigers that tell us we can’t.

Rest easy, Capt. Swartz. You may be gone but we’ll make sure yer cannons keep singin’!
- Guest
  
  And on that final note:
  https://petitions.whitehouse.gov/petition/make-distributed-denial-service-ddos-legal-form-protesting/X3drjwZY
Jimmy671

I second Anyone’s comment.
Fuck Off you psycho piece of shit.
Alex

@’Anon’ You are a deluded LIAR whom will NEVER BE TOLERATED!

“I cannot speak as to all of the problems that contributed to Aaron’s death, but I do strongly believe that he did not deserve the treatment he received while he was alive. It is incumbent on all of us to figure out how to create some positive change out of this unnecessary tragedy. I’ll write more on that later. First I need to spend some time hugging my kids.”

The Truth about Aaron Swartz’s “Crime”
http://unhandled.com/2013/01/12/the-truth-about-aaron-swartzs-crime/
.
ThumbsUpThumbsDown

First: It’s NOT about what the Government will Tolerate. It’s about what WE will tolerate.

Second: We are NOT required to overthrow our corrupt Government. We can simply replace it.

Third: Aaron Swartz was brilliant and visionary; and, perhaps troubled; but, he was, above all, abused and mistreated; as we are all being abused and mistreated, by the same powers that abused and mistreated him.

Fourth: We are ALL facing a coming confrontation with Reality.

Fifth: Aaron Swartz’a Death tells US with final clarity that None of US can rest in Peace.
ScrewEwe2

Eat shit and die young.
Scary_Devil_Monastery

And true to form, here we have the grand psychopath himself, tossing in a few diplomatic words of false grief right after which he blithely goes on to gloat.

Now, just to correct you on one issue. What you are claiming is, then, that the US will NEVER allow the taxpayers to fund research while at the same time allowing those tax payers to access the results of said paid research?

Thank you for making that clear. And thank you, once again, for making clear to us all just how much respect you and your ilk are to be afforded.

One day, My dear Baghdad bob, Aaron’s vision will be true and you, at best, will be facing the choice between a noose and a life in persecution.

[EDIT] Meanwhile I’ll honor his memory by making sure that any time I need to show what a copyright maximalist looks like, your post gets read.
- Anon
  
  “What you are claiming is, then, that the US will NEVER allow the taxpayers to fund research while at the same time allowing those tax payers to access the results of said paid research?”
  
  No. Not even in the slightest. JSTOR has already slightly altered their policy. And I am far from the true maximalists.
  
  But I do believe that the evolution in US culture is no longer sensibly steeped in taking up arms against perceived tyranny as in 1776 or anything akin to the revolution in France. I am saying that all views deserve consideration within the means and established forums we use for these purposes. I am also saying that American culture has evolved to a high enough plane that to disregard these protocols of law and go to civil disobedience instead will continue to end in greater and more life changing punishments. That trend has been clear as day all along. I think we expect this from our government and I also think it is axiomatic the American people will continue to support that. If you doubt this, Scary, visit the White House petition and see a mere 11,300 signatures from 330 million people, in the largest and most widely published and discussed internet story since SOPA/PIPA. This is your so-called “call to arms.” I’ve held from the beginning, piracy and any form of internet malfeasance simply does not have the numbers to prevail. 100,000 signatures on the White House petition is still a very tiny response. Even a million would be less than 1/3rd of 1%.
  
  10 years ago we had no idea where this was going. 5 years ago we began to see the signs. About 2 years ago shit started getting real, but hackers and pirates have continued this non-the-less, openly daring for longer sentences. Gonzalez got 20 years. Beshara got a couple, now we have convictions for piracy and hacking or site administration almost every week. Lives are being damaged as admins are now sentenced to jail, we just saw 5 years in one case. Reports surfaced yesterday suggesting Aaron passed on a plea bargain that would have cost him about 18 months for one of the largest digital heists in internet history.
  
  So most of all, Scary, I believe that any time any person who uses stealth, deception and a criminal, digital means as Aaron did to do things he is evidenced to do, 1) it was appropriate he got off with just the warnings in the PACER debacle and 2) federal prosecutors did what We, the People pay them for and expect them to do in the JSTOR incident. There is plenty of room for debate about prosecutorial overreach. We’ll see if We, the People in the USA at least, actually want a digital free-for-all or not.
  
  But to be clear, it was Aarons outlier belief system and the radical choices he made and importantly, your encouragement and exhortation to a disfigured thinking in an unreasonable climate that you help create brought him to his situation, and no one took his young life but himself.
  
  These indictments and convictions will increase until the very clear tiny minority of pirates and hackers find an integrity online that is more in keeping with society at large. Until then, every conviction, every sentence, every suicide, every damaged life going forward because you encourage this climate of civil disobedience is just more responsibility on your own hands.
  - Guest
    
    So were there more or less pirates breaking more or less law five or ten years ago?
    
    Make up your damn mind, Anon!
  - Guest
    
    “So most of all, Scary, I believe that any time any person who uses stealth, deception and a criminal, digital means as Aaron did to…
    
    show more”
    
    Thank you, TorrentFreak, for the “show more” hook.
  - Tactical Nuclear Penguin
    
    It’s not civil disobedience, it’s corporate disobedience that’s happenning. What is good for the Corporation is not good for the people, and vice-versa.
    So every day, including Sundays, Christmas, Easter etc. lobbyists give $10 million to the US politicians to change laws in favour of the donators, the Corporations. After all they are very religious about bigger profits. All the voters get is to give them their vote once every few years if they so desire.
    Unfortunately the rest of the world can’t look to the US population to change things using logic and commonsense to work out what’s good for them. Heck, last week Star Wars fans managed to get the required number of petition signatures to get the White House to respond to their petition on wanting to get the Death Star built. Seriously WTF, a 30 year movie prop is top of the list on what US citizens want the Govt to do for real. This is despite that our planet hasn’t got a threat that requires a ‘Death Star’ to be built, the fact that it would cost more than the whole planet has ever, or will ever be able to afford, or even has the technology to build. Thankfully the White House reply was a polite fuck-off, but only because they couldn’t afford it, not because there is no alien threat to the planet.
    For you to say that file sharers are openly daring for longer sentences, nothing could be further from the truth, we are expecting for this whole ‘filesharing is bad’ attitude to be dissembled, and only the Corporate bought politicians are daring for longer sentences for a victimless act.
    As for the largest digital heist in history, the files are now released to the public anyway. And JSTOR didn’t want charges brought against him as he was a guest of MIT at the time, not a felon as you would have us believe.
    Go post your diatribe on Murdoch’s New Corp where you will be given a rousing reception from all your fellow corporate trolls.
Pelham123

Anon, you wouldn’t know common decency if it bit you in the ass.

You haven’t advised anyone except your own asshole. You are not mentally competent to advise people on complex subjects.

You do not belong to any “us” on this board. You are alone except for your spoofers.

You don’t know what “anarchic” means.

You’re not Bobmail today, which means you get another rare pass from me, but don’t fool yourself. you don’t fool anybody else.

Jeff0899

RIP. Aaron, you were truly an amazing man.

http://twitter.com/samplesami Via Dolorosa.

Too fkg Sad!He lkd like a gr8 guy but with pressure & many expectations by da ppl in his life,on his life/him-Which is & ‘ll always b completely Unfair 2 20somethings (bec.we 20somethings like & need to live only 4 ourselves…)I hear a choir of angels singg “impossible” by james arthur /such a song as I respectfully say goodbye 2 him, RIP Aaron Swartz !

U Suck

Fuck you Ultimate Troll.
You couldn’t lay-off for just one day could you.
YOU ARE SCUM!

Booboo332

In a world where mocking dead or sexually abused/exploited children and remorseless harassment to the point where some kill themselves can we really be surprised by this?

Some have no joy in life other than the misery of others and the way the world is now connected along with the nearly complete lack of accountability has given them myriad ways to strike out at others.

doG

The Trolls and Spammers here today are truly reprehensible.
We will not forgive you and we will retaliate.

Remember Aaron.
Death to Trolls.

http://twitter.com/MidoThePirate Ahmed Omar

R.I.P :(

Jimmy671

Why don’t you show us your cool way,it may improve the gene pool.

Revengebunny

I’m not buying the suicide thing at all. He was smarter than that.

His spirit will live on….

Jason M Tufts

May this great man rest in peace, and not be remembered for his death, but the life he lead.

ThumbsUpThumbsDown

One guy working for himself is the most basic standard of adulthood.

Such a guy, doing the work of one, is standing at this moment at every crossroad of the moral universe saying, “I raised myself! Against all odds! I overcame adversity! I paid my dues. I followed rules. I did MY JOB! I stood MY ground. I did NOT bend or break under my burdens. I was not unjust. I was not abusive. I AM the independent Human example; because, above all, I wiped MY OWN ASS!”

There’s an elementary credibility to this expression of Darwinian selfhood.

We hear it everwhere that arbitrary power speaks.

Yet, most of us are dragged screaming and resisting to a different standard of Adulthood: We are the parents of newborn infants, so we spend our days and nights wiping someone else’s ass. We are the children of elderly parents, so we keep long vigils over their deathbeds. We are the young husband or wife who started with a willingness to share somethings; and, over a lifetime, were suprised to discover that we had shared everything.

Such a guy, meeting THIS standard of Adulthood, hence doing the work of several, is standing at this moment at every corner of the moral crossroads, telling his singular adversaries, “I nurtured and educated my children. I buried my parents. I not only followed rules; but, I made the rules better. I not only raise myself! I lifted those around me. I did NOT impose adversity on others. I was Just; and, I opposed the injustice of others.”

This is NOT merely a higher standard of Adulthood. This IS a Higher standard of Humanity.

Which brings us to Chris Dodd.

Which brings us to the MPAA/RIAA.

Which brings us to every Copyright Maximalist that seeks to enoble and entrench a Permanent Corporate Domain in Human Intellectual Property.

What a Disgrace!

What high title or personal lucre can justify a life dedicated to the more perfect debasement of the Human Race for private profit? Make no mistake, THAT human debasement IS the meaning of a permanent Corporate Domain in Human Intellectual Property!

These Copyright Powers will flatten themselves against the wall, throw up their hands, and say,”What a tragedy! Poor Aaron Swartz! He was a Genius!! He died because he was a deppressive! We had NOTHING to do with it!”

What a Disgrace!!

They are as Blameless in Aaron Swartz’s death, as they are blameless in the nullifications of Constitutional Rights that were the sum and substance of PIPA, SOPA, ACTA, CISPA, and TPP.

They are as blameless in Aaron Swartz’s Death, as they are blameless in the extra-legal collusive and coercive imposition of Six Strikes by Six Monopoly ISPs on 340 Million Americans.

What a Disgrace!!

Aaron Swartz’s genius was not as a coder or hacker; but, as a witness with an axe; and, the axe he was weilding was cutting deeply into every corrupt foundation of support for a Perpetual Corporate Domain in Human Intellectual Property.

That is why he was prosecuted. That is why we are ALL being prosecuted!

This is why he died. By his own hand, perhaps; but, with infinite clarity, under the same repression that has increasingly abused any and all civil citizens who oppose a Permanent Corporate Domain in Human Intellectual Property.

We can only misunderstand his legacy, by failing to see fully the Powers that he opposed.

If we do that, we will have inherited an insufferably low Standard of Humanity indeed.

commenter8

Awesome post… thanks!!!
bobmail

You need to see a doctor. Your hatred isn’t normal, you appear to be having serious emotional issues. Take heed from Aaron’s story, try to work it out.

Blaming others for your shortcomings will never work out.
- Guest
  
  ThumbsUpThumbsDown didn’t say a word about his own shortcommings much less did he blame others for them.
  
  The only people here demonstrating abnormal hatred and severe emotional issues would be you, Anon, and Nejtillpirater by trolling and vandalizing a memorial thread for a man who just died.
- Vldwekyu
  
  And you really need to go to a mental hospital…
  You are very much disturbed.
  - G2G cat on fire
    
    “And you really need to go to a mental hospital…”
    
    ESPECIALLY one with a padded cell
- ThumbsUpThumbsDown
  
  Bob….. I have a really long History of Posting here under the name Thumbs UpThimbsDown.
  
  Those Posts are known to everyone who Regularly Comments here, including yourself.
  
  Those posts, everyone of them, can be examined for the expressions of “Anger” or “Hate” that you attribute to them by simply clicking on the generic icon.
  
  Not in ONE of those posts will ANYONE find an abusive, disrespectful, or demeaning Ad Hominim attack.
  
  What those Posts do reflect is DEEP REVERENCE for the American Consitution and DESPERATE CONCERN for the Civil Liberties of Individual Citizens; and, URGENT OPPOSITION to the entrenchment of a Perpetual Corporate Domain in Intellectual Property; always respectfully stated, and always respectfully argued.
  
  Aaron Swartz was legally lynched for these same concerns.
  
  To express this is NOT to express Hate. Quite the contrary, it is to assign responsibility where it is really due; and, to call for the Higher Standard of Humanity that WE ALL desearve.
  - Anon
    
    Referring to a suicide as “legally lynched” is what an intelligent person would call “really good thinking.” :-)
  - Guest
    
    You’re just mad that SOPA got killed. Boohoo, Anon.
  - Pelham123
    
    Anon, no intelligent person discusses suicide with emoticons.
- Guest
  
  So stop blaming everything on pirates, jackass. That better?
- Pelham123
  
  “Blaming others for your shortcomings will never work out.”
  
  I agree. What will you be doing about the shortcomings you demonstrated today?
  
  Going back to bitching about piracy tomorrow and hoping we forgot?
  
  Dream on.
  - bobmail
    
    My only shortcoming here is assuming that I was having a discussion with adults who are willing to look at both sides of things and try to learn from what has happened. Clearly, that is not the case, too many people here (and the family I might add) are too quick to lay blame on the “MAFIAA F__CKERS!” without seeming to consider the whole story.
    
    tutd posted a turd of a post, using Aaron’s self-inflected death as an attempt to push an agenda. That is truly sad.
    
    So yeah, I see my shortcomings, which was thinking I was talking to rational people.
  - Guest
    
    @bobmail
    
    You should have realised this when you decided to agree with the garbage that the MAFIAA posts, thinking that THAT was rational.
    
    You were the one who decided first to blame everything on pirates.
  - G2G cat on fire
    
    @bobmail “My only shortcoming here is being a MAFIAA cocksucker, a troll as well as a moron”
    
    FTFY, now go find some offs to fuck
- G2G cat on fire
  
  “You need to see a doctor. Your hatred isn’t normal, you appear to be having serious emotional issues. Take heed from Aaron’s story, try to work it out.
  
  Blaming others for your shortcomings will never work out.”
  
  that’s we try to tell the MAFIAA and all of you trolls when it comes to filesharing, but you never listen
  
  so when are you gonna suicide about it? we’re waiting

ItsTheSasquatch

If there was any justice in the world, the parties responsible for forcing a genius (who actually contributed things of value to our society) to choose between suicide and a lifetime of prison rape would immediately commit suicide themselves as penance–as their contributions to society are predominantly negative (massively so), this would certainly render the world a better place, though it wouldn’t even begin to compensate for the damage they’ve already caused. Ironically, despite being involved in the “justice system,” they have no concept of right and wrong–they won’t feel the slightest bit guilty about this.

If we really want justice, simply signing that petition probably won’t help–the whitehouse routinely shields its cohorts from justice (i.e., the Chris Dodd petition after he openly admitted to bribery on live television was ignored). You should sign it anyway, of course, but it’s getting to the point where we need to acknowledge that the system is too corrupt to reform through any means it deems “legal.”

will

Its time to fight back create your own hackerspace an internet outside the corporate-fascist system:

landdestroyer.blogspot.com.au/2013/01/fighting-back-against-intellectual.html

Guest

“Happiness in intelligent people is the rarest thing I know” – Ernest Hemingway.
Rest in Peace, Aaron.

Horse

I would rather die then spend 35 years in prison as well… and how was it hacking if he had legit access to the network…

frozar

Even lawyers don’t know all the laws. Tens of thousands of pages of law in the US Code alone. It’s insane.

Luke Solis

I have no sympathy for people who commit suicide.

utuxia

i have no sympathy for people who say things like this. facing 30 years for something like downloading free files is rediculous. http://wh.gov/E3v1
Jimmy671

I guess that makes you LESS then HUMAN.

Andrew Lee

To the family I’m sorry for your loss. :( He had a brilliant mind and did more than most of us could ever hope achieve in our lifetime.
It’s sad he tried to make the word a more open place “as it should be” and he was condemned for it.

@Julia
Come on ffs this is not the time… We really need a limit on posting links for first time/anon posters. I don’t mean disable them but at least mod approval required for any new poster to TF. At least that way assholes like this can be banned before they spread their filth. Yes the qr.net is a dead giveaway but still…

commenter8

The White House Petition to fire US Attorney Carmen Ortiz for her misconduct in this case already has 8,656 signatures – please sign!

https://petitions.whitehouse.gov/petition/remove-united-states-district-attorney-carmen-ortiz-office-overreach-case-aaron-swartz/RQNrG1Ck

ScrewEwe2

Thanks for your unselfish efforts Aaron and for showing the way.

Rest in Peace.

And Thank You Ernesto.

Indiagrt

RIP :(

ScrewEwe2

Just one small example of Aaron’s contributions:

http://openlibrary.org/

Open Library is yours to explore, correct & hack.
Books to Read

The World’s classic literature at your fingertips. Over 1,000,000 free ebook titles available.

https://thepiratebay.org/user/manOtor/ manOtor

May he rest in piece and may his family find some closure, so they’ll be able to go on with their lives with the pain fading away soon leaving behind all the happy memories that’ll keep him alive in their hearts forever.

Let’s honor a great mind by recognizing his work and keeping the spirit he stood for alive!

Cheers.

Sleep in heaven

R.I.P. Aaron Swartz. :(

Bug

Fucking crooked politicians and rich pricks who have all the money they need..want more…they want their so called justice…so they witch-hunt…its all about money..no matter who they destroy…..read the 48 Laws of Power…the illustrations used by the author include some of the most powerful and ruthless people in the history of the world. THIS IS AND ALWAYS WILL BE THE WAY THE WORLD WORKS….our guns are next.

Hogspace

Never heard of him. Never used reddit.
He needed a hair cut, couldn’t settle, couldn’t see things through, couldn’t hack it.

Cadet

Please try to be a bit more considerate and respectful. I think its universal that when someone is gone we temper our opinions. Let some time pass before passing judgement – this will give his mother and father time to grieve. BTW you haven’t done anything unusual – I did the same thing once when a friend died (expressed an opinion and my feelings in a way that must have seemed a bit cold to everyone else at the time). Guess I was annoyed as the pointlessness of his death.
ScrewEwe2

Screw you Hogface. When did you get elected to judge the length of peoples hair.
- Hogspace
  
  When mine started falling out. Since then everyone growing it long is a cunt.

Kchase77

Why did he commit this crime in the first place? I am not familiar with him or his story, but if one is not prepared to face the consequences of one’s actions, one should not do the crime no matter how harsh the punishment.

Anyone

it wasn’t a crime
he had access to the database, he downloaded some articles that he had access to

then the prosecutor decided to bully him into suicide by threatening him with 35 years in prison and over $1 million to pay
ktetch

Did you miss the part where the company he allegedly ‘hacked’ had ZERO problems with his actions, and actually told the DoJ to drop it..

It was a high profile crime the US Attorney could use for public gain as a campaign issue. And if he lost, not like it was a real criminal….
Michael098

What crime are you talking about!
No conviction = No crime

Guest

http://thepiratebay.se/torrent/6554331
Everyone download the archives which Aaron had downloaded from MIT network!
R.I.P. Aaron

Commenter8

Prosecutors turned down Reddit co-founder Aaron Swartz’s request for plea deal over MIT hacking case TWO DAYS before his suicide

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2262137/Reddit-founder-Aaron-Swartz-request-plea-deal-turned-Massachusetts-prosecutor-suicide-Brooklyn-apartment.html

White House petition to fire US Attorney Carmen Ortiz for her misconduct in this case:

https://petitions.whitehouse.gov/petition/remove-united-states-district-attorney-carmen-ortiz-office-overreach-case-aaron-swartz/RQNrG1Ck

White House petition to limit copyright terms to a maximum of 10 years:

https://petitions.whitehouse.gov/petition/shorten-excessive-copyright-terms/XMc72zjc

ScrewEwe2

I signed up earlier today and signed both those petitions, plus the one to end the war on drugs.
bobmail

You can petition all you like. They will put those right up there with the Death Star one.

I think you doth protest too much.
- G2G cat on fire
  
  ‘You can petition all you like. They will put those right up there with the Death Star one.”
  
  this shit keeps up and the only petition we’ll give them is a bullet in their head

Anonym_ous

Arguing over the internet is like running a special Olympics even if you win you are still retarded……….
RIP Aaron Swartz …..really sad to see a genius die
Its all the power of money and corporate greed….he didn’t had the opportunity to fight back the charges against him
Obama is the corporate guys puppet , i really don’t think he will react and act upon the petition but i sincerely hope that this damn “piece of shit” judge be put in jail

commenter8

The petition to fire US Attorney Carmen Ortiz has already exceeded the 25,000 signatures needed to get a response from the White House.

Here’s a new petition to fire Assistant US Attorney Steve Heyman:

http://wh.gov/Ex1n

Frankie098

(And what regard do you have for the lives of people who’s content you steal?)

Copy not Steal,try and wrap your brain around that concept.

Nearly forgot to tell you to Piss Off.

G2G cat on fire

why the fuck should we care about a bunch of greedy assholes who don’t give a shit about us or our rights and would sooner have this country like North Korea so they can make a profit?

who’s being fake? not us, a lot of comments on this site and similar openly say they want these people dead, or atleast in prison

MAFIAA can’t even find the balls to come out say it about us

(P.S. copying =/= stealing, if anyone’s stealing, it’s them)

Vince

I knew this was going to happen. I KNEW THIS WAS GOING FUCKING happen. You can’t expect to hand down a jail sentence to someone that has no fucking business being in jail. 35 years ? are you FUCKING KIDDING ME. HONESTLY if I was him I would of done the same thing. HOW DARE the judge or the government due this to him for disturbing friggan BOOKS. I am sick and disgusted by this justice system. Its scares the shit out of me everyday I could go to jail for something as simple as walking the wrong way down the street, yes I am exaggerating but this is what the world and the court system has come to. This makes me sick, FUCKING SICK<.

Vince

same thing as in KILL MYSELF for that jail sentence. I hvae always said I rather be DEAD then in jail.
Gnurkel

Extreme arrogance and abuse of power and breeds extreme responses. This time the victim killed himself. What will happen next time?

commenter8

Aaron Swartz prosecutor ‘drove another hacker to suicide in 2008 after he named him in a cyber crime case’ – Jonathan James committed suicide two weeks after Secret Service raided his home in a case led by U.S. attorney Stephen Heymann

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2262831/Revealed-Aaron-Swartz-prosecutor-drove-hacker-suicide-2008-named-cyber-crime-case.html

White House petition to fire Stephen Heymann here: http://wh.gov/Ex1n

Liberty

Watch over us my freedom brother, you will live on in this dream we share, we’ll make you proud

utuxia

https://petitions.whitehouse.gov/petition/fire-assistant-us-attorney-steve-heymann/RJKSY2nb

commenter8

Just found this great article over at The Guardian:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2013/jan/18/aaron-swartz-suicide-girlfriend-internet-reddit

Aaron Swartz girlfriend blames suicide on ‘vindictiveness’ of prosecution

The partner of the internet activist Aaron Swartz, who killed himself earlier this week, has blamed his suicide on the stress of his prosecution.

Taren Stinebrickner-Kauffman said she was “absolutely confident” that Swartz killed himself because of the case, in which he was being prosecuted for downloading academic articles from a university archive.

Swartz, 26, a prominent open-internet advocate who helped build Reddit and RSS, was found dead in the Brooklyn apartment he shared with Stinebrickner-Kauffman on January 11. They started dating a few weeks before Swartz was indicted in 2011.

He was set to go trial next month for downloading academic articles from JSTOR, an online academic journal library, at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. If convicted, he could have faced a 30-year jail sentence, although it emerged this week that he had been offered a six-month term in a plea bargain. ”The legal system has lost all sense of mercy and justice and it has been replaced with punitiveness and vindictiveness,” Stinebrickner-Kauffman told Mail Online.

“Felony charges change the course of people’s lives. There are things Aaron maybe wanted to do – like go into government – and it’s just ludicrous that one act like this could prevent somebody like him from serving his country. The risk was too much for him.”

[...] Strinebrickner-Kauffman is the executive director and founder of SumOfUs [http://sumofus.org], a movement that attempts to counterbalance the power of corporations. She said that Swartz would take the subway with her to work, but the morning of January 11, he told her he wanted to stay home and rest.

“I wanted to stay with him but he said he didn’t want me to and that I should go to the office,” Strinebrickner-Kauffman said. “So I did.”

She found him that evening dead of an apparent suicide in their apartment. [...]

commenter8

http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2013/jan/16/ortiz-heymann-swartz-accountability-abuse

[...] The US has become a society in which political and financial elites systematically evade accountability for their bad acts, no matter how destructive. Those who torture, illegally eavesdrop, commit systemic financial fraud, even launder money for designated terrorists and drug dealers are all protected from criminal liability, while those who are powerless – or especially, as in Swartz’s case, those who challenge power – are mercilessly punished for trivial transgressions. All one has to do to see that this is true is to contrast the incredible leniency given by Ortiz’s office to large companies and executives accused of serious crimes with the indescribably excessive pursuit of Swartz. [...]

The grotesque abuse of Bradley Manning. The dangerous efforts to criminalize WikiLeaks’ journalism. The severe overkill that drives the effort to apprehend and punish minor protests by Anonymous teenagers while ignoring far more serious cyber-threats aimed at government critics. The Obama administration’s unprecedented persecution of whistleblowers. And now the obscene abuse of power applied to Swartz.

This is not just prosecutorial abuse. It’s broader than that. It’s all part and parcel of the exploitation of law and the justice system to entrench those in power and shield themselves from meaningful dissent and challenge by making everyone petrified of the consequences of doing anything other than meekly submitting to the status quo. As another of Swartz’s friends, Matt Stoller, wrote in an equally compelling essay:

“What killed him was corruption. Corruption isn’t just people profiting from betraying the public interest. It’s also people being punished for upholding the public interest. In our institutions of power, when you do the right thing and challenge abusive power, you end up destroying a job prospect, an economic opportunity, a political or social connection, or an opportunity for media. Or if you are truly dangerous and brilliantly subversive, as Aaron was, you are bankrupted and destroyed. There’s a reason whistleblowers get fired. There’s a reason Bradley Manning is in jail. There’s a reason the only CIA official who has gone to jail for torture is the person – John Kiriakou – who told the world it was going on. There’s a reason those who destroyed the financial system ‘dine at the White House’, as Lawrence Lessig put it.

“There’s a reason former Senator Russ Feingold is a college professor whereas former Senator Chris Dodd is now a multi-millionaire. There’s a reason DOJ officials do not go after bankers who illegally foreclose, and then get jobs as partners in white collar criminal defense. There’s a reason no one has been held accountable for decisions leading to the financial crisis, or the war in Iraq.

“This reason is the modern ethic in American society that defines success as climbing up the ladder, consequences be damned. Corrupt self-interest, when it goes systemwide, demands that it protect rentiers from people like Aaron, that it intimidate, co-opt, humiliate, fire, destroy, and/or bankrupt those who stand for justice.”

In most of what I’ve written and spoken about over the past several years, this is probably the overarching point: the abuse of state power, the systematic violation of civil liberties, is about creating a Climate of Fear, one that is geared toward entrenching the power and position of elites by intimidating the rest of society from meaningful challenges and dissent. There is a particular overzealousness when it comes to internet activism because the internet is one of the few weapons – perhaps the only one – that can be effectively harnessed to galvanize movements and challenge the prevailing order. That’s why so much effort is devoted to destroying the ability to use it anonymously – the Surveillance State – and why there is so much effort to punishing as virtual Terrorists anyone like Swartz who uses it for political activism or dissent. [...]

All the statistics are well known at this point. The US imprisons more of its citizens than any other nation in the world, both in absolute numbers and proportionally. Despite having only roughly 5% of the world’s population, the US has close to 25% of the world’s prisoners in its cages. This is the result of decades of a warped, now-bipartisan obsession with proving “law and order” bona fides by advocating for ever harsher and less forgiving prison terms even for victimless “crimes”. [...]

But none of this reform will be possible without holding accountable the prime culprits in this case: Carmen Ortiz and Stephen Heymann [MIT officials have their own reckoning to do]. Their status as federal prosecutors does not and must not vest them with immunity; the opposite is true: the vast power that has been vested in them requires consequences when it is abused. It is up to the rest of us to ensure that this happens, not to forget the anger and injustice from this case in a week or a month or a year. A sustained public campaign is necessary to bring real accountability to Ortiz and Heymann, and only then can further urgently needed reforms flow from the tragedy of Swartz’s suicide.

Michael098

Make a few people happy,you do the same.

G2G cat on fire

no

what’s pathetic is the assholes who pushed him to suicide

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