Saturday 19 January 2013

Aaron Swartz suicide



This time we will look into the newspapers to learn what is the main topic of the heated discussions this week. Just a glance at the headlines in Forbes (Aaron Swartz Hacker Case Ends With Suicide), and first-page obituaries in Guardian (Internet pays tribute to Aaron Swartz) and New Yorker - and one must wonder - who is the guy and what is he famous for?
Aaron Swartz (born 1986) was an American computer programmer, writer, archivist, political organizer, and Internet activist. Was - as he was found death a few days ago, in his Brooklyn apartment, where he hanged himself. Pure talent, a prodigy kid, he would always achieve what he headed for. The list of his achievments is impressing!


Apart from co-building "RSS 1.0" specification of RSS and Reddit, he cofounded the online group Demand Progress and was a member of the Harvard University Center for Ethics. He was known for his involvment with a campaign to prevent the passing of the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA). The bill would have monitored the Internet for copyright violations and would have enable the US government to shut down websites. Due to the work of such activists as Swartz, the bill was defeated.
In 2012 Swartz commented on the bill at the F2C:Freedom to Connect event in Washington:
"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... [SOPA] instead of bringing us greater freedom, would have snuffed out fundamental rights we'd always taken for granted."


Aaron Swartz was associated with the movement called hacktivism (derived from hack and activism). It is the use of computers and computer networks as a means of protest to promote political ends. The term could be defined as "the use of legal and/or illegal digital tools in pursuit of political ends".
26-year-old, Swartz finally got into trouble when he was caught while downloading roughly 4 million academic journal articles from JSTOR.
JSTOR is a Journal Storage, a digital library of academic journals founded in 1995. Every student in most of the countries (including Poland) has an immediate access to English texts via JSTOR. It is one of the most popular scholar resources at the university.
Two days before his tragic death he learned that at trial he would face a total of 35 years imprisonment!
Swartz' family and partner have published a statement: "Aaron's death is not simply a personal tragedy, it is the product of a criminal justice system rife with intimidation and prosecutorial overreach. Decisions made by officials in the Massachusetts U.S. Attorney’s office and at MIT contributed to his death."
The Guardian has published a set of internet commentaries for the news.
"This scary thing about what happened to Aaron Swartz - says one of the commentators - is that he was a"doer", not just a "talker". (...) Taking action DOES change things, and the government will not tolerate that – even if it's totally legal and within your rights. This is why things as a simply as taking pictures on a factory farm (to expose animal cruelty) can land you ten years in prison and a "terrorist" label in today's world."
Aaron dreamt of the liberation of the data. Young as he was, he put his efforts to make available information that in his opinion ought to be free.
The reaction of the internet users is radically wary towards the US government. Some accuse the officialls of pursuing uncovered political goals, others just consider it a significant turn in the battle of free media. "What happened to Aaron Swartz - writes on of the Guardian readers - is a tragedy and I fear that what happened to him will make people scared of taking action. I hope the opposite happens, but one cannot be surprised if it doesn't."
If you want to read more voices on Aaron Swartz death, you will find it here: http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2013/jan/14/internet-pays-tribute-to-aaron-swartz

sources:

QUESTIONS:
1) Polish ACTA movement caused the civil protests all over the country. What, in your opinion, would be the reaction of the Polish free media activist if the similar case would take place in Poland?
2) Why do the states fight for control over media?
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1 comment:

  1. s749520 January 2013 at 20:36

    1. Aaron's suicide is very disturbing and very sad. He was a very young individual who had the whole life ahead of him.
    I believe that if Aaron was Polish,the reaction would be the same. It is not about the nationality,it is about the individual and what he stood for. In every country,people fight for what they believe Is right. Nowadays there are a lot of organizations that fight/ protest for new laws in relation to online media and information. It is a very thin line to answer the question of who is right and what should be legal or what not. It is a very delicate topic,but there is no justification on what had happened to Aaron.It was just wrong.
    2.As with everything, online media is yet another item, that the government will try to control setting rules and regulations. I do not deny it is important to protect the online information and its authors,but not for the price of someone's life.The controlling bodies need,the most importantly,set the fair system with strict but fair rules.I do not believe the crime that Aaron committed deserved 35 years of imprisonment making it the same punishment as someone who committed murder or rape. It is something wrong here and hopefully there are people in power who are already working on changing the punishment and hopefully saving many innocent lives.

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