Difference between revisions of "Aaron Swartz"
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Aaron Swartz was a computer programmer and activist, born November 1986. He is best known for his early involvement in being a partner at Reddit, development of RSS feeds, and academic work studying and participating in online activism. His most infamous act occurred when he was discovered illegally downloading thousands of academic articles from JSTOR, with intent to distribute the research to the public, resulting in his arrest and federal prosecution facing 35 years in prison. During the ensuing legal prosecution, Swartz committed suicide. | Aaron Swartz was a computer programmer and activist, born November 1986. He is best known for his early involvement in being a partner at Reddit, development of RSS feeds, and academic work studying and participating in online activism. His most infamous act occurred when he was discovered illegally downloading thousands of academic articles from JSTOR, with intent to distribute the research to the public, resulting in his arrest and federal prosecution facing 35 years in prison. During the ensuing legal prosecution, Swartz committed suicide. | ||
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| + | ==Background== | ||
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| + | Beginning at a young age, Swartz developed RSS feeds as a way to aggregate information from the Internet and easily access and track that information and content. Swartz was also involved heavily in the campaign for internet openness and against censorship in the mid 2000's when bills such as SOPA and PIPA were being proposed. In a similar vein, Swartz worked on the Internet Archives' Open Library and Creative Commons, both of which are concerned with information access and freedom. <ref https://www.internethalloffame.org/inductees/aaron-swartz </ref> It is clear that Swartz made it his mission in many ways to open information and allow equity in information. | ||
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| + | ==Legal Troubles & Death== | ||
| + | Swartz's story takes a dark turn after he was discovered to be downloading massive quantities of academic literature from JSTOR while he had an academic login credential from MIT. | ||
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| + | ==Ethical Discussion== | ||
Revision as of 15:02, 17 March 2018
Aaron Swartz was a computer programmer and activist, born November 1986. He is best known for his early involvement in being a partner at Reddit, development of RSS feeds, and academic work studying and participating in online activism. His most infamous act occurred when he was discovered illegally downloading thousands of academic articles from JSTOR, with intent to distribute the research to the public, resulting in his arrest and federal prosecution facing 35 years in prison. During the ensuing legal prosecution, Swartz committed suicide.
Background
Beginning at a young age, Swartz developed RSS feeds as a way to aggregate information from the Internet and easily access and track that information and content. Swartz was also involved heavily in the campaign for internet openness and against censorship in the mid 2000's when bills such as SOPA and PIPA were being proposed. In a similar vein, Swartz worked on the Internet Archives' Open Library and Creative Commons, both of which are concerned with information access and freedom. [1]- ↑ It is clear that Swartz made it his mission in many ways to open information and allow equity in information.
Legal Troubles & Death
Swartz's story takes a dark turn after he was discovered to be downloading massive quantities of academic literature from JSTOR while he had an academic login credential from MIT.
==Ethical Discussion==
