Web technologist and internet activist Aaron Swartz was found dead on Friday (11-Jan-13). The 26 years old tragically passed away in an attempted suicide at his New York apartment.
Amongst many other achievements Aaron was involved in the standardization of RSS in 2001 when he was merely 14 years old. He also founded software startup Infogami which was later merged with Reddit. Aaron was also responsible for the founding of Demand Progress, a popluar advocacy group that fought against SOPA/PIPA and also created the web.py Web application framework.
Aaron passed away under tragic circumstances as he struggled with a possible fine of $4 million more than 50 years in prison as the government pressed felony charges against him. He infuriated the government back in 2009 when he illegally downloaded and shared 20 million PACER (Public Access to Court Electronic Records, an electronic public access service of court documents) articles on the web. In 2011 he downloaded 4 million academic journal articles from JSTOR (Journal Storage, digital library). These infractions hit Aaron hard as the prosecutors pressed charges against him for malpractice and computer fraud. Charges were later dropped.
Aaron’s family blame officials for their loss…
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 US Attorney’s office pursued an exceptionally harsh array of charges, carrying potentially over 30 years in prison, to punish an alleged crime that had no victims. Meanwhile, unlike JSTOR, MIT refused to stand up for Aaron and its own community’s most cherished principles.
People all around the world grieve the loss of this young man. A march is taking place on the MIT campus at noon on Sunday, January 13th to commemorate the life of Aaron Swartz.
He was a genius and he will be missed.