Fighting for Freedom: Aaron Swartz 1986-2013
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Aaron Swartz was a programmer and activist who fought for freedom of information and against overreach in copyright and computer crime laws. He was facing decades in prison for accessing academic articles through MIT's network. Exhausted after two years of prosecution, he took his own life in 2013 at age 26. The document outlines Aaron's battles against issues like prosecutorial overreach and restrictions on public domain knowledge. It encourages readers to continue Aaron's work by supporting related organizations and raising awareness of internet freedom issues.
Fighting for Freedom: Aaron Swartz 1986-2013
- 1. Fighting for Freedom Aaron Swartz: 1986 2013
- 3. Aaron was a Creative Genius
- 4. He was also a Freedom Fighter weve lost a fighter. Weve lost somebody who put huge energy into righting wrongs. There are people around the world who take it on themselves to just try to fix the world but very few of them do it 24/7 like Aaron. what he was doing up to the end was fighting for right... Sir Tim Berners Lee 18 Jan 2013 www.rememberaaronsw.org
- 5. His battles were against Five Great Injustices 1) Prosecutorial Overreach 2) The Computer Fraud and Abuse Act 3) Guilty Until Proven Rich 4) Sequestration of Public Domain Knowledge 5) Obsession with Copyright Violation
- 6. 5) Obsession with Copyright Violation
- 7. 4) Sequestration of Public Domain Knowledge Aaron believed public domain documents should be freely available to all
- 8. 3) Guilty Until Proven Rich https://www.facebook.com/TheOther98
- 9. 2) The Computer Fraud and Abuse Act http://www.gocomics.com/tomthedancingbug/2013/02/01
- 10. 1) Prosecutorial Overreach Aaron was facing 35 years in prison and $1m in fines for actions that harmed no-one. He was hounded for two years by Asst US Attorneys Scott Garland and Stephen Heymann, working under US Attorney Carmen Ortiz His parents have said "he was killed by the government" Aaron said "fix the machine, not the person"
- 11. How Aaron Responded Aaron fought the District Attorney's office for two years. On January 11 2013, exhausted, demoralised, and out of money, Aaron gave up the fight by taking his own life.
- 12. There's Going To Be A Revolution is what I posted on Facebook on January 17 I was wrong We're already in the middle of it Many other people have been affected by it: Julian Assange Andrew Auernheimer Kim Dotcom Bradley Manning Lori Drew Gary McKinnon Gottfrid Svartholm and more It's the Internet Freedom Revolution And it's entering a whole new phase
- 13. Anonymous There Will Be Chaos
- 14. Join the "people whose voices emerge from the light" Join Demand Progress and sign their online petition Sign the Whitehouse Petitions for reform of the CFAA and removal of Carmen Ortiz Research the stories of the other people affected by the Internet Freedom Revolution Raise awareness amongst your community Support Creative Commons Ask your local politicians about their stance on internet censorship and copyright law Vote for people who are progressive on these issues
- 15. History Feb 5: The Battle for his Legacy - Slate Feb 4: Why Aaron Died Taren SK Jan 26: There Will Be Chaos Anonymous Jan 18: Five Great Injustices - MAC Jan 17: There's Going to be a Revolution MAC Jan 14: Thoughtworks Mourns Aaron Swartz Jan 13: Fighting for Freedom - MAC Jan 12: Aaron Swartz Found Dead Huffington Post 25/9/12: Fix the Machine, Not the Person Aaron 22/5/12: How We Stopped SOPA - Aaron
- 16. Remember Aaron Swartz Aaron's Blog Remember Aaron SW Aaron's Army
Editor's Notes
- #3: Aaron was a colleague of mine at ThoughtWorks. I first heard his story just before Christmas 2012. ThoughtWorks held an all-hands conference call to ask everyone to support him. I was very moved by his story and resolved to write about him. But Christmas got in the wayIt's too late for me to help him now, but I want to share his story with you in the hopes that his life's work will continue.
- #4: Aaron was an amazing young man. At the age of 14 he co-authored the RSS spec. He was also instrumental in the development of Reddit, Jottit and the Creative Commons.
- #5: weve lost a fighter. Weve lost somebody who put huge energy into righting wrongs. There are people around the world who take it on themselves to just try to fix the world but very few of them do it 24/7 like Aaron. what he was doing up to the end was fighting for right...
- #7: Aaron had not really thought about copyright issues until 2010 when his friend Peter called him to help combat COICA, the Combating Online Infringement and Counterfeiting Act. Aaron realised this bill would prevent Americans from accessing any sites that contained copyright infringing materials. So he started an online petition, set up Demand Progress and began lobbying. COICA was changed to PIPA then SOPA, which finally stalled and has been abandoned.
- #8: PACERIn 2008 Aaron downloaded 2.7 million documents from the legal records databaseHe made them available to everyone for free through RECAPThe FBI investigated him but did not press chargesJSTOR The US Attorney's office received their opportunity to silence Aaron when in late 2010 he used MIT's computer network to download over 4 million articles from JSTOR. The US Attorney claims he 'stole' the articles, although as a Harvard researcher he was allowed free access to them. Aaron did no permanent damage to JSTOR or the MIT computer network. He made no money from the download, nor did he harm any person. JSTOR was not interested in pressing charges against him, yet by September 2012 the US Attorney had charged him with 13 felony counts.
- #9: The wealth that Aaron earned through the sale of Reddit was sucked dry by his legal fees. His parents were to mortgage their house to help him fight the charges. How can a country founded on the principle of liberty and justice for all make justice unaffordable to everyone without massive wealth?
- #14: For good reason the statue of lady justice is blindfolded. No more should her innocence be besmirched, her scales tipped, nor her sword hand guided. Furthermore there must be a solemn commitment to freedom of the internet, this last great common space of humanity, and to the common ownership of information to further the common goodWe understand that due to the actions we take we exclude ourselves from the system within which solutions are found. There are others who serve that purpose, people far more respectable than us, people whose voices emerge from the light, and not the shadows. These voices are already making clear the reforms that have been necessary for some time, and are outright required now.It is these people that the justice system, the government, and law enforcement must engage with. Their voices are already ringing strong with a chorus of determined resolution. We demand only that this chorus is not ignored.