I am sure most of us have come across the news of the saddening demise of 26 year old Aaron Swartz. He was an internet activist fighting for the good of the internet. He was also part of the founding team of Reddit. He also wrote the initial definitions of the RSS (Rich Site Summary). In short, he was a brilliant young lad who brought an end to his own life.
There have been many discussions as to why he did so. It is definitely sad that people have been making vague statements and opinions especially after a person has just passed away. Alex Stamos, CTO of Artemis Internet and expert witness on Aaron’s side of US vs Swartz writes a post in his blog talking about the facts of Aaron’s “crime”.
In case you still do not know, Aaron was indicted of stealing government information from a government website, causing damage to resources, etc. I am sure most will believe that downloading of journal articles from an unlocked closet is not an offense worth 35 years in jail.
Here are some facts as mentioned by Alex Stamos:
In short, Aaron Swartz was not the super hacker breathlessly described in the Government’s indictment and forensic reports, and his actions did not pose a real danger to JSTOR, MIT or the public. He was an intelligent young man who found a loophole that would allow him to download a lot of documents quickly. This loophole was created intentionally by MIT and JSTOR, and was codified contractually in the piles of paperwork turned over during discovery.
Well, at the end of it, he did give away his life which could have been saved. But this is how it is now I guess. It is a sad demise for the internet and activists in general.
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