Aaron Swartz
| Birthname | Aaron Hillel Swartz |
| Date of Birth | November 8, 1986 |
| Birth Place | Highland Park, Illinois, US |
| Nationality | American |
| Occupation | Software Developer, Writer, Internet Activist |
| Biography | Best known as internet hacktivist. Photo = Aaron Swartz on One Web Day, at the Berkman Center Source=http://www.flickr.com/ photos/docsearls/8392551787/ 2006_09_22_aaron-swartz-owd_4 Photo credit = Doc Searls |
Aaron Swartz (November 8, 1986 - January 11, 2013) was a computer programmer, entrepreneur, writer, political organizer and activist. He is best known for his early partnership in Reddit, his development of RSS feeds and the Markdown publishing format, and his involvement in the development of the organization Creative Commons. In addition, Swartz have done research on and participated in online activism particularly on Reddit. 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.
Contents
Life and works
Swartz was born in Highland Park, Illinois and was the son of a Robert and Susan Swartz. Robert Swartz founded the software firm Mark Williams Company, which is where Swartz become first introduced to computers, programming and the Internet.
When Swartz was 13, he was awarded the ArsDigita Prize which was given to students that create a useful and collaborative website. Throughout his time at Stanford University, Swartz blogged about his experiences, specifically his role in creating the organization Creative Commons and an assortment of other topics.
During his time at Stanford, Swartz developed RSS feeds as a way to aggregate information from the Internet and easily access and track that information and content. Swartz was 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 was discovered to be downloading massive quantities of academic literature from JSTOR while he had an academic login credential from MIT. [2] While JSTOR opted not to press charges, nevertheless Swartz was prosecuted by the government for his attempt to illegally share these articles. During the course of the proceedings, in fact right after Swartz's attempt to reduce his sentence was rejected, Swartz was found dead by suicide.
Ethical Discussion
Obviously, the death of someone is tragic. However, disagreeing with Swartz's actions does not mean necessarily that there is agreement in the methods that the government went about prosecuting him. In fact, the reaction to the Swartz situation lead to revision in laws regarding internet usage. However, there is still discussion to be had and questions to be raised regarding the morality and ethics behind Swartz's actions and the underlying sentiment behind prosecuting him for those actions. Without a doubt, Swartz's death is a tragedy and the prosecution went too far. This being said, it is important to consider reasoning on both sides.
Pro-Prosecution
Pro-Swartz
Information is often power. Knowing what is out there in the world can enable people to organize movements, educate themselves on issues they care about, access services and resources they may need, form community and relationships, and generally elevate their circumstances in myriad ways. Swartz understood and agreed with this philosophy, liberating data and information throughout his career. The Internet has been discussed as a democratizing force, and what is more democratizing than allowing equality of opportunity of access to information from all walks of life? Additionally, what could be less democratizing than censorship, whether that censorship is literally striking words and editing content, or it takes a form of simply restricting the flow of information, a separation between the information rich and the information poor, often mirroring the economic rich and economic poor of our current social strata. Swartz's actions served to reduce these gaps, reinforcing the openness and exchange that is valued.
