beSpacific: Commentary, action and reason for change

January 14, 2013

Commentary, action and reason for change - the death of Aaron Swartz

Marcia Hoffman/EFF: "Over the past two years, Aaron was forced to devote much of his energy and resources to fighting a relentless and unjust felony prosecution brought by Justice Department attorneys in Massachusetts. His alleged crimes stemmed from using MIT's computer network to download millions of academic articles from the online archive JSTOR, allegedly without "authorization." For that, he faced 13 felony counts of hacking and wire fraud, which carried the possibility of decades in prison and crippling fines. His case would have gone to trial in April. The government should never have thrown the book at Aaron for accessing MIT's network and downloading scholarly research. However, some extremely problematic elements of the law made it possible. We can trace some of those issues to the U.S. criminal justice system as an institution, and I suspect others will write about that in the coming days. But Aaron's tragedy also shines a spotlight on a couple profound flaws of the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act in particular, and gives us an opportunity to think about how to address them."

Via Free Government Information: "Even before we learned of Aaron Swartz's passing last Friday, several colleagues and I were in the midst of writing letters nominating Aaron for the ALA James Madison Award which was established by the ALA in 1986 to "honor individuals or groups who have championed, protected and promoted public access to government information and the public’s “right to know” on the national level." We write now to ask all of our readers to also submit letters in support. The deadline for letter submission is January 16, 2013, so get a move on! Send e-mail nominations to Jessica McGilvray, Assistant Director for the ALA Office of Government Relations, at jmcgilvray@alawash.org. Submissions can also be mailed to: James Madison Award / Eileen Cooke Award, American Library Association, Washington Office, 1615 New Hampshire Avenue, NW, Washington, D.C. 20009-2520"

Aaron Swartz, Aaron Swartz, Aaron Swartz
How Aaron Swartz Fought For Government Transparency
The Economist: Remembering Aaron Swartz - Commons man / "As Sir Tim put it, in fewer than 140 characters, "Aaron dead. World wanderers, we have lost a wise elder. Hackers for right, we are one down. Parents all, we have lost a child. Let us weep." And the web wept."
UK Guardian - Aaron Swartz: cannon fodder in the war against internet freedom - "Governments are determined to control the internet, and if hackers like Swartz get in the way, they will be crushed."
Declan Mccullagh - Swartz didn't face prison until feds took over case, report says: "The late Internet activist was facing a stern warning from local prosecutors. But then the U.S. Attorney's office, run by Carmen Ortiz, chose to make an example of Aaron Swartz, a new report says."
Slate - How MIT Can Honor Aaron Swartz - Fight to make academic journals open to everyone.
The inside story of Aaron Swartz’s campaign to liberate court filings - And how his allies are trying to finish the job by tearing down a big paywall.
Memorials for Aaron Swartz Turn to Discussion of How to Honor His Legacy

Permanent Link Topic(s): Censorship, Civil Liberties, Freedom of Information, Internet


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