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Electronic Frontier Foundation

Aaron Swartz Day Commemorated With 'Those Carrying on the Work' (aaronswartzday.org) 42

Friday "would have been his 38th birthday," writes the EFF, remembering Aaron Swartz as "a digital rights champion who believed deeply in keeping the internet open..." And they add that today the official web site for Aaron Swartz Day honored his memory with a special podcast "featuring those carrying on the work around issues close to his heart," including an appearance by Brewster Kahle, founder of the Internet Archive.

The first speaker is Ryan Shapiro, FOIA expert and co-founder of the national security transparency non-profit Property of the People. The Aaron Swartz Day site calls him "the researcher who discovered why the FBI had such an interest in Aaron in the years right before the JSTOR fiasco." (That web page calls it an "Al Qaeda phishing expedition that left Aaron with an 'International Terrorism Investigation' code in his FBI database file forever," as reported by Gizmodo.)

Other speakers on the podcast include:
  • Tracey Jaquith, Founding Coder and TV Architect at the Internet Archive, discussing "Microservices, Monoliths, and Operational Security — The Internet Archive in 2024."
  • Tracy Rosenberg, co-founder of the Aaron Swartz Day Police Surveillance Project and Oakland Privacy, with "an update on the latest crop of surveillance battles."
  • Ryan Sternlicht, VR developer, educator, researcher, advisor, and maker, on "The Next Layer of Reality: Social Identity and the New Creator Economy."
  • Grant Smith Ellis, Chairperson of the Board, MassCann and Legal Intern at the Parabola Center, on "Jury Trials in the Age of Social Media."
  • Michael "Mek" Karpeles, Open Library, Internet Archive, on "When it Rains at the Archive, Build an Ark — Book bans, Lawsuits, & Breaches."

The site also seeks to showcase SecureDrop and Open Library, projects started by Aaron before his death, as well as new projects "directly inspired by Aaron and his work."


Aaron Swartz Day Commemorated With 'Those Carrying on the Work'

Comments Filter:
  • Aaron Swartz
  • by topham ( 32406 ) on Saturday November 09, 2024 @11:04PM (#64934293) Homepage

    If you put mental health in your sight instead of thinking he was ok, maybe you'd actually do things that are worth while.

    Instead, you do this.

    He killed himseof because of people like you.

    • Ezra did nothing for mental health except glorify pointless suicide as somehow being helpful to anyone at all, which it was not. If anything, his abuse of JSTOR cut off access to mental health resources for students, researchers, and medical staff at MIT who used JSTOR.

    • by Rujiel ( 1632063 )
      Wrong, he killed himself because the government wanted to ruin his life with lawfare over the JSTOR charges when neither JSTOR nor MIT wanted to prosecute him over it. The fact that trolls need to show up to belittle him as simply a suicide tragedy, and try to gatekeep others from discussing it, says plenty.
  • by rocket rancher ( 447670 ) <themovingfinger@gmail.com> on Sunday November 10, 2024 @09:49AM (#64934807)

    While there’s no doubt that Aaron Swartz made valuable contributions to the internet as we know it—his involvement with Creative Commons, Reddit, and RSS clearly show his impact—there’s a disconnect between his ideals and some of his choices. Yes, Swartz fought for open access to information, but he ultimately became a criminal, sidestepping ethical boundaries and legal restrictions in the process.

    Downloading millions of documents from JSTOR by manipulating MIT's network access was not a minor infraction; it was a deliberate breach that risked repercussions for MIT’s access to JSTOR. In fact, JSTOR temporarily suspended MIT's access to its database to prevent further unauthorized activity. This action was taken to protect the integrity of JSTOR's services and to ensure fair access for all users. While JSTOR did not impose long-term penalties on MIT, the incident led to increased security measures and more stringent access policies at JSTOR -- the exact opposite of Swartz's stated goals. Swartz’s actions jeopardized access for the community he aimed to support, showing a willingness to act unilaterally and disregard both institutional rules and, arguably, all individuals who rely on JSTOR, and not just the students and faculty at MIT.

    This “liberation” of data might seem noble on the surface, but it's also fundamentally flawed in execution. Swartz didn’t just oppose a paywall; he decided to take matters into his own hands, which could be seen as an act of arrogance rather than activism. Other activists have effectively fought for open access within legal bounds, helping change the very policies he broke. If we’re to take seriously his intentions for a better, more open world, it’s worth asking why he chose criminality over lawful advocacy.

    There’s another difficult aspect here: Swartz’s suicide is often portrayed as a reaction to harsh prosecution, yet activists who truly believe in their cause—even in the face of injustice—usually fight back or seek change, not exit in despair. That he ultimately took his own life is tragic but complicates the narrative of a determined visionary. Real change-makers are often those who see even in prosecution an opportunity for reform. We’re left to wonder if his motives were perhaps more complicated or conflicted than simply “fighting for open access.”

    Swartz was undeniably talented and played a significant role in internet history. But before elevating him to martyrdom, we should critically assess the message his actions send, especially given that there are constructive ways to push for change within society’s legal frameworks.

  • The work of stealing from reference libraries to equip your own unfunded unstable, entirely non-existent library? Aaron wasn't a "liberator", he was a thief who couldn't even be bothered to engage in the "tragedy of the commons" with his own Harvard library permissions. He bothered to sneak into an MIT wiring closet and overwhelm JSTOR servers with his theft from there, getting MIT staff and students cut off from that vital research and scientific resource. Aaron earned jail time, since this was far from th

  • The misplaced FBI interest in possible military espionage was revealed to the public during the time between Aaron's arrest and his suicide. There was no published hint that Aaron was trying to do anything other than mirroring all of JSTOR for his personally created "free library", the not physically existing, unfunded, unsustainable, and copyright violation project he sought to create. Even if the site had existed for even a day, the flood of copyright notices to any legitimate ISP and the vulnerability of

    • Even if the site had existed for even a day, the flood of copyright notices to any legitimate ISP and the vulnerability of such services to court ordered shutdown would have closed it with a day of active service, at most.

      As the users of any video torrent services can confirm :-/

  • an 'International Terrorism Investigation' code in his FBI database file

    From what I've seen, the FBI throws these around far more than is justified. On the other hand, Those risking such a mark in the face of advice against such behavior seem not to care. In fact, getting on to a DoJ 'watch list' seems to be a badge of honor in some circles.

    I could tell you more. But then I'd have to kill you.

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