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Aaron Swartz Rememberance Day This Monday

805 points by mofosyne 5y ago

For the general public he was seen as just another hacktivist along with various hacktivist groups that were active around the time like lulzsec and anonymous. But for the wider internet community, he represents something much much more, especially post 2020 where we are all questioning many aspect of governance that we take for granted as the normal state of the world. In November the eight of 1986 Aaron Swartz was born. While his early childhood was like any other kid, he showed early spark of someone who would be very consequential to internet culture. One of his first website to be recognized by the public is "The Info Network" a user generated encyclopedia, created at the age of 12 years old which won the ArsDigita Prize. But later on he was accepted into Y Combinator's founder program on a startup called infogami. While infogami failed to get further funding, his contribution to the wider Y Combinator, got him in touch with another fellow co-founder to work together on this small but potentially important firm known as Reddit. If you are from Reddit or Hackernews, you will be very familiar with how the next few years will go for Arron as well and so no further introduction will be needed. (But you can follow further in his wiki page https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aaron_Swartz) However what will be consequential to the wider public is his work as an tech activist fighting for the same rights and values that digital natives in the wider internet culture would fight for. Especially in the realms of copyright laws and the wider debate on digital access and freedom. This includes writing Guerilla Open Access Manifesto, as well as filing a FOIA request to find out how Chelsea Mannings was treated after she was detained for her alleged role in the WikiLeaks leaks. In addition to to leaking PACER digital court records to improve public access, which had him investigated by the FBI for potential copyright infringements. And most importantly to rally the internet against Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA). However it was tragically his efforts to push for open access to academic journals (much of which was publicly funded research) that may have costed him his life at 2008-12-13. Eight years later, as we emerge from the global pandemic, it is about time we celebrate his life and reflect on his his short time with us. As well as reflecting on how his actions had inspired countless digital natives current and in the future to continuously push and fight for the right for information to be free and transparent.

afkqs 5y ago
For anyone who hasn't seen it yet. The Internet's Own Boy https://archive.org/details/TheInternetsOwnBoyTheStoryOfAaronSwartz https://archive.org/details/TheInternetsOwnBoyTheStoryOfAaro...
- trevcanhuman 5y ago
  Such a great documentary, also available on yt iirc.
  - itsmemattchung 5y ago
    One of my favorite documentaries that I watch at least once every couple years. Brings me to tears — every time.
  - weightless 5y ago
    It sure is - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9vz06QO3UkQ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9vz06QO3UkQ
mofosyne 5y ago
His birthday is November 8, 1986 Take the time to remember the kind of person he is. Electron workshop is having a watch party for Americans today at Monday, November 8 at 1pm in Illionis, US. https://venue.electronworkshop.com.au/b/dod-3rc-jhv-re0 https://venue.electronworkshop.com.au/b/dod-3rc-jhv-re0 For Aussies, the workshop is playing another session right now starting at 9pm Sydney time.
m_st 5y ago
You can also remember him for his work on Markdown, which he developed together with John Gruber (Daring Fireball): http://www.aaronsw.com/weblog/001189 http://www.aaronsw.com/weblog/001189 https://daringfireball.net/projects/markdown https://daringfireball.net/projects/markdown
- clydethefrog 5y ago
  And RSS! Fortunately it's still going strong and making so much information, even in the form of podcasts, accessible to all.
  - peter422 5y ago
    For reference he was the 11th listed author among 12 for RSS version 1. I’m sure he has some contributions but he was not the main inventor of it.
    - ttepasse 5y ago
      And RSS 1.0 was a RDF-based reformulation of the XML-based RSS 0.91 from Scripting News/Dave Winer. That in turn was a fork of the XML-based RSS 0.91 from Netscape, which itself was a reformulation of the RDF-based RSS 0.9 from Netscape by Danny Libby and Ramanathan Guha. • https://web.archive.org/web/20060417192840/http://diveintomark.org/archives/2004/02/04/incompatible-rss https://web.archive.org/web/20060417192840/http://diveintoma... • https://twobithistory.org/2018/09/16/the-rise-and-demise-of-rss.html https://twobithistory.org/2018/09/16/the-rise-and-demise-of-...
tmvnty 5y ago
Here's a list of number one posts about Aaron in the past for those interested: https://hn-saga.com/?q=aaron https://hn-saga.com/?q=aaron
1cvmask 5y ago
Julian Assange and Edward Snowden are at least still alive despite the all the moves done by autocrats like Obama/Trump/Biden. Aaron unfortunately is not around us still. Let's remember how heavy handed the autocratic Obama administration was: https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-switch/wp/2015/01/08/in-a-long-delayed-petition-response-obama-refuses-to-fire-u-s-attorneys-over-aaron-swartz/ https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-switch/wp/2015/01/08...
- mwint 5y ago
  Can anyone get an archive.is link for this?
  - lprd 5y ago
    Check out the Bypass Paywalls plugin for chrome/firefox. Its a lifesaver: https://github.com/iamadamdev/bypass-paywalls-chrome/blob/master/README.md https://github.com/iamadamdev/bypass-paywalls-chrome/blob/ma...
  - codetrotter 5y ago
    Here https://archive.ph/htHfA https://archive.ph/htHfA
  - e12e 5y ago
    > Can anyone get an archive.is link for this? FYI that's just the link: https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-switch/wp/2015/01/08/in-a-long-delayed-petition-response-obama-refuses-to-fire-u-s-attorneys-over-aaron-swartz/ Plus archive.is prefix: https://archive.is/https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-switch/wp/2015/01/08/in-a-long-delayed-petition-response-obama-refuses-to-fire-u-s-attorneys-over-aaron-swartz/ Which is a page: https://archive.is/https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-switch/wp/2015/01/08/in-a-long-delayed-petition-response-obama-refuses-to-fire-u-s-attorneys-over-aaron-swartz/ https://archive.is/https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-s... With link to article: https://archive.md/htHfA https://archive.md/htHfA
- hellbannedguy 5y ago
  Aaron seemed like the was dealing with a Huge amount of stress caused by his school, and the Fed, by himself basically. He needed more support. More than we gave him. It makes a huge difference when going through legal troubles if you have the right people around you, and I'm not taking just lawyers.
heckerhut 5y ago
I think I could’ve been friends with Aaron, he seemed like such a great person. That he took his own life says something about his attitude towards it and it resonates with me. It’s a choice and there may be reasons why you are willing to commit to it. Of course I wish he hadn’t but I respect it.
- pyentropy 5y ago
  I don't think it's attitude or philosophy. His death cannot just be attributed to his character, it's a complex issue. The prosecution put a huge toll on him and he talks in his blog about his problems with mood and ulcerative colitis and his emotional and sensory issues. http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2013/03/11/requiem-for-a-dream http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2013/03/11/requiem-for-a-d...
  - heckerhut 5y ago
    For sure it’s complex and there are branches of the multiverse where he was never confronted with that decision because he had no major crises. But in this universe he made that decision consciously and ultimately voluntarily.
sokoloff 5y ago
> may have costed him his life at 2008-12-13. What does this line mean? Aaron took his own life several years later than that. That seems like a date copied from a Creative Commons event on his Wikipedia page and an odd error to make for someone following the story.
- scambier 5y ago
  And the following paragraph begins with "Eight years later, as we emerge from the global pandemic" So definitely a copy-paste error on the date.
- Cthulhu_ 5y ago
  I have serious questionmarks with the OP; the post is badly written and it's a relatively low karma user.
fidesomnes 5y ago
no one cares about this dead retard.
jzellis 5y ago
I remember the Creative Commons launch party, and mistaking Aaron for someone attendee's kid - he would have been what, Jesus, sixteen or seventeen? At least until Larry Lessig introduced him. He was so wee, and so obviously brilliant. I only ever met him in person once more, at CCC, but we were both working a little bit on an OLPC project. I had such respect for him. Vaya con Dios, kid.
ganzuul 5y ago
The day hope for justice died. Yes I remember.
- kkjjkgjjgg 5y ago
  But there wasn't an actual verdict, or was there?
  - n8cpdx 5y ago
    No, Aaron never gave the justice system a chance to work. In more serious cases involving crimes against the state, hopeful, merciful outcomes have been found, as in the Chelsea Manning case: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chelsea_Manning https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chelsea_Manning I don’t think we should be glorifying a person who took his own life before facing justice.
    - modo_mario 5y ago
      >No, Aaron never gave the justice system a chance to work. I'd say his case was proof that the system didn't work. JSTOR dropped charges and urged for others to do the same yet that didn't go anywhere. It involve a credible threat of potentially up to $1 million in fines, 35 years in prison and restitution. A threat that would push anyone to to take the plea deal in the process avoiding reaching for actual justice. (And even that plea deal was ridiculous) If that's how it's supposed to work then it's fucked. >as in the Chelsea Manning case Someone exposing crimes for moral reasons "only" sentenced to 35 years of maximum security. Was this attended as some misplaced sarcasm?
    - bo1024 5y ago
      On the contrary, the justice system was working against him for the entire two years between his arrest and suicide. Additional indictments, plea deals, counter-offers, threats, etc. Two years of a person's life before they even get to trial! That's the American "justice" system. In fact, in the federal justice system, only 2% of defendants end up going to trial -- most end up accepting a plea deal (and we can guess how much bullying and threatening go into that). By analogy to your argument, 98% of defendants never "face justice". Or maybe better put, they never receive justice. A source: https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2019/06/11/only-2-of-federal-criminal-defendants-go-to-trial-and-most-who-do-are-found-guilty/ https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2019/06/11/only-2-of-f...
chrisseaton 5y ago
> If you are from Reddit or Hackernews, you will be very familiar with how the next few years will go for Arron 99.99% of people from Reddit will have never heard of Aaron (not 'Arron'). I think people mis-estimate what most people on that site are for - but it's not tech activism anymore, if it ever was, and they don't have any interest in who runs the site, much less who used to run the site.
- timintheglades 5y ago
  He'd be disgusted at the censored echo chamber Reddit has become.
  - brian_herman 5y ago
    And the fact they took him off the founder page.
  - rusk 5y ago
    He’d probably also have been equally disgusted at what “free speech” manifested as.
    - twofornone 5y ago
      Are you sure? Or would people be accusing him of "white supremacy"? Edit: how deliciously ironic, on a thread about Aaron Swartz, a comment questioning censorship is flagged.
      - vanderZwan 5y ago
        On the basis of what exactly?
        twofornone 5y ago
        On the basis of defending "hate speech", according to at least one organization he cofounded[0]: >and in opposition to censorship and corporate control of government I truly wonder what position he would have taken regarding covid/vaccine censorship. Or reddit's implicit authoritarian policy against criticism of LGB and especially T. He seems like an enough of an idealist to have been a free speech absolutist. 0. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Demand_Progress https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Demand_Progress
dave_sullivan 5y ago
It was a tragedy and good example of how the government will crush what it does not understand under a boot. Things haven't gotten better.
- konfin 5y ago
  It's far too kind an explanation to assume they don't.
fordp 5y ago
"They were singing, bye-bye, Miss American Pie.." [edited] I can remember the day, reading about Aaron's death. And the following days, reading up about his life. The investigation by MIT to see if they played any role in it. Led by Hal Abelson. Above song was playing whilst I read this submission, so I posted it because it felt appropriate. But I should have added some context..
donatj 5y ago
His death to this day frustrates me. The world needs Aaron Swartz now more than ever.
- ganzuul 5y ago
  They showed us that they have no qualms about murdering us when we speak up for what we belive is right. If there is anywhere that we can go from here, it is not to be done as a united civilization.
zalequin 5y ago
I don’t understand the cult of personality around Aaron. It’s like a self insert for people that fantasize about sticking it to the man or something; the tragic hero, the genius boy who died not realizing his potential, the man who dared to defy the authorities. Yawn. Fact is Aaron was an angsty teen with an axe to grind with the authorities . Reading Chomsky certainly didn’t help. Acting out childishly by spreading copy righted material, getting caught and whining about how all of this is so unfair… Look, he was no genius. Genius does not invent reddit; it invents facebook and then proceeds to take over the world because actual, real, genius understands the rules of the game. Aaron was smart enough to understand just how fucked things are but oh so very dumb to act out on his aggressive impulses. The very same impulses that later lead him to kill himself. Ironically his suicide accomplished far more than his technical know how could ever hope to achieve. p.s. aaron was no hero. You dont ever want to be him and you certainly dont want your children to be him. His ideals were pure and correct, but he could not accept we’re living in a world filled with trash humans. Should’ve played the game correctly imho.
- deleted 5y ago
  [deleted]
- raxxorrax 5y ago
  Maybe the prosecution by an Obama diversity hire that drove him into financial ruin was part of that too. Of course all these nasty civil rights movements were just emotional impulses that could not control themselves. Of course there is an unchangeable game subjected to the rules of power and you understand that and we should build a cult of personality around you instead? No thank you.
- mberning 5y ago
  Agree completely. By all accounts he was a bright guy, bu he did something very foolish. He did a crime and rather than play ball he martyred himself. Yes there probably was prosecutorial overreach and yes our criminal justice system could use reform. But this guy was no saint in the matter and could have easily got off with a minor sentence.
  - 5y ago
radmuzom 5y ago
One of Aaron's contributions is not mentioned very frequently. He is also the co-founder of the site Demand Progress, created to fight for various progressive causes. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Demand_Progress https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Demand_Progress
9387367 5y ago
For historical value, the effort to remove Aaron as Reddit co-founder by Alexis Ohanian and Steve Huffman. paulgraham 40 points 14 years ago Aaron's not wrong to call himself one of the founders. The company behind Reddit was a merger of two startups, one that made Reddit and one that made Infogami, and in that situation the founders of both startups are considered founders of the combined company. https://old.reddit.com/r/reddit.com/comments/1octb/reddit_cofounder_aaron_swartz_discusses_how_he/c1okmc/ https://old.reddit.com/r/reddit.com/comments/1octb/reddit_co... previously: 2006 - https://web.archive.org/web/20070823200504/http://startupstories.com/2006/11/29/passion-for-your-users-will-come-back-alexis-ohanian-co-founder-of-reddit/ https://web.archive.org/web/20070823200504/http://startupsto... 2007 - https://old.reddit.com/r/reddit.com/comments/1octb/reddit_cofounder_aaron_swartz_discusses_how_he/c1oewi/?context=3 https://old.reddit.com/r/reddit.com/comments/1octb/reddit_co... 2007 - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=20219 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=20219 2010 - https://old.reddit.com/r/todayilearned/comments/d2njs/til_there_was_a_third_cofounder_of_reddit_who_was/c0x40yz/?context=3 https://old.reddit.com/r/todayilearned/comments/d2njs/til_th... 2011 - https://bits.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/07/19/reddit-co-founder-charged-with-data-theft/ https://bits.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/07/19/reddit-co-founder-... 2011 - https://archive.md/IRuu8 https://archive.md/IRuu8 2020 - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=24677419 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=24677419 2020 - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=24713422 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=24713422 2021 - https://www.redditinc.com/#section-4 https://www.redditinc.com/#section-4
- jimhi 5y ago
  I clicked through your links and the explanations Paul, Alexis, Steve, and even Aaron himself write are pretty consistent. This comment is very unfair
- password4321 5y ago
  > 2020 - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=24677419 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=24677419 > ... > 2020 - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=24677419 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=24677419 Did you link the same discussion twice on purpose?
  - 5y ago
godelmachine 5y ago
I put Aaron Swartz at par with Alexandra Elbakyan. I wish I could financially support Ms Elbakyan's efforts but I am not so good at cryptocurrencies.
- iakov 5y ago
  Bitcoin is practically a consumer technology with youtube channels, tens of mobile apps and even bitcoin exchange machines in tech hubs. This is just a lazy excuse in 2021.
- honkdaddy 5y ago
  I know 12 year old fortnite kiddos that have purchased Bitcoin. It’s not really something to be “good with” anymore - if you want to support Alexandra, put your money where your mouth is :)
kkjjkgjjgg 5y ago
He did many great things, but to be honest I also think of him as an example of how activism can consume people and ruin their lives.
- EarthIsHome 5y ago
  > I also think of him as an example of how activism can consume people and ruin their lives The feds and those in power ruined his life. Our legal system ruined his life. Our society ruined his life. This line of thinking is like "don't even attempt to change the status quo."
  - Cthulhu_ 5y ago
    > This line of thinking is like "don't even attempt to change the status quo." Well you can, but not on your own. There's a few people that try to shoulder the whole burden.
  - kkjjkgjjgg 5y ago
    In most cases, people shouldn't die for causes (or if not die, devote most of their lives to them). Activism is also usually not the only way to change things.
danielrhodes 5y ago
It’s also worth remembering that Aaron Swartz was driven to near bankruptcy and facing prison time over a victimless crime that in the greater scheme of things seems quite trivial. The prosecutors, Stephen Heymann and Carmen Ortiz, used their discretion to play hardball and this in no small part played a role in his decision to take his own life. On the plus side, however, it appears their abuses of power more or less ended their careers. Heymann has not updated his LinkedIn in almost a decade and Ortiz’s ambitions to become governor of Massachusetts were squashed.
- ethbr0 5y ago
  Naming the perpetrators, and continuing to name them, is important. It will never make things right, but it's critical to making the future righter. Preventing crimes of a system require that system's individuals to set aside apathy and create ongoing consequences for perpetrators as an example to those who would do similarly. Sometimes those consequences are just keeping a name and memory alive, and linking it with those at fault. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carmen_Ortiz#Prosecution_of_Aaron_Swartz https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carmen_Ortiz#Prosecution_of_... https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stephen_Heymann#Aaron_Swartz https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stephen_Heymann#Aaron_Swartz
- deleted 5y ago
  [deleted]
- q1w2 5y ago
  There is a strong desire these days for prosecutors to punish "hackers", and this political pressure has intensified with the recent ransomware attacks. Politicians and prosecutors are frustrated that most the suspects are abroad so they crack down on any "hacker" they catch domestically with punitive zeal. It is normal in highly technical cases for prosecutors to throw "experts" and jargon at the judge and jury - which without contravening testimony from a defense witness, it generally accepted. This effectively turns the justice system on its head - placing the burden of proof and the heavy cost of defense on the accused. Let me give some words that might help from cases I've worked on (not limited to hacking cases)... Rule 1. Shut the F up. Transparency is not your friend. I have seen cases where sysadmins have told the truth about the tech, and then had charges of obstruction levied against them, because someone who had no knowledge of the tech in the accounting dept contradicted something they said. For example, provide exactly what's legally required by court order or your lawyer's advice - only in the exact time range requested and only the fields requested. Answer only the question you are asked, and as succinctly as possible. Make sure that any answers you give are either in writing or with the presence of a lawyer. I have also seen investigators claim someone provided contradictory information, just because the investigators themselves misunderstood the answer. Rule 2. There are no "routine" investigations. Get a lawyer. Do not treat any interaction with authorities lightly. If they are talking to you or your company, they are not your friends. Make sure your lawyer pressures them to define and limit the scope and time period of any investigations to only exactly what's needed for whatever they're investigating. Do not assume that just because they're investigating one of your clients, that you have no legal liability. Rule 3. Do not run a company like an infinite data retention store. Old files/records/databases/etc are a legal liability, because prosecutors can and WILL misrepresent data in court to try to pressure you. Hold data for legally required period, and then delete it permanently. Limit access within the company to only the data that people need to do their jobs. Transparency is not your friend. Rule 4. Being innocent does not absolve you of legal liability. Being innocent does not keep you out of court. Disgruntled customers can make things up or misunderstand. Disgruntled employees can make stuff up or misunderstand facts. You competitors in the market can make things up or misunderstand. All of these people can and will testify against you in court, and prosecutors can and DO construct cases based on misinformation. Rule 5. Do not engage criticisms on social media. You have a near-zero chance of convincing the mob of anything. Anything said publicly can and will be used against you in court. Also remember that legal liability extends to civil suits. Unhappy clients, employees, competitors, partners, will all use any information they can get to try to bias the court against you. I've seen cases where partners used social media content to claim grounds to break contracts without penalty. In summary, as a company, STFU.
both_cucumbers 5y ago
I once commented "The world would be a better place with Aaron Swartz in it" on Reddit and got downvoted. That's the sad world we live in.
lal00 5y ago
Does anyone know when/how were the users of Infogami got merged with the Reddit ones? I barely remember a thing about Infogami but my user from there exists at Reddit.
ArtTimeInvestor 5y ago
I guess this is his website? http://www.aaronsw.com/ http://www.aaronsw.com/ Interesting, that he introduced himself in the third person. I wonder what made him take this approach?
- trevcanhuman 5y ago
  His family/friends probably changed it.
  - ArtTimeInvestor 5y ago
    You mean after his death? I don't think so. Waybackmachine shows it was like this in early 2012 already.
- Cthulhu_ 5y ago
  I dunno, it's not uncommon to do so on e.g. CVs.
- garbagetime 5y ago
  I have noticed that it is not unusual to do so on personal websites.
- JCharante 5y ago
  He also has his previous website, and his previous previous website (same url). Most of it is archived on way back machine, and there are many pages worth reading.
- throwawaygh 5y ago
  I wouldn't over-analyze. Third person intros are very common on personal websites, especially for folks who often give talks, invited lectures, or are written about in the press. If your personal website starts with a short intro written in 3rd person then the person introducing your talk/lecture will, 9/10 times, simply read out your own description of yourself. Reporters will summarize the key points when introducing you in a story. Assuming the person speaking/writing about you is favorable or neutral, you control exactly how you're framed. If you write the intro in first person or have an overly pithy description, then they'll sort of make their own intro which could go well or not so well ;-)
throwawayswede 5y ago
He'd be horrified at what Reddit has become.
notthemessiah 5y ago
It doesn't as get much attention, but Aaron was working a lot on a lot of pro-democracy anti-corruption money-out-of-politics activism in his latter years, founding "Change Congress" with Lessig, which later became "Rootstrikers", an organization focused on eradicating dark money in politics. Aaron Swartz was also a Progressive (having co-founded "Demand Progress") and a Keynesian (http://www.aaronsw.com/weblog/keynes http://www.aaronsw.com/weblog/keynes) who believed in taxing the rich in the service of a functioning economy, I wonder what he would have thought about all the bullshit coming from Paul Graham these days in his vitriolic defense of the status quo. He couldn't be very happy to hear Graham saying we don't need to tax and spend on infrastructure to get us out of the climate mess.
- yesenadam 5y ago
  > all the bullshit coming from Paul Graham these days in his vitriolic defense of the status quo. Do you have a link to some examples of that? I don't remember pg being remotely vitriolic about anything in his recent writing, but I haven't followed closely, am not on Twitter etc.
- Robotbeat 5y ago
  Just to clarify, Keynesianism isn’t particularly about who you tax but when tax and spending should occur. The idea is to be countercyclical. Cut spending and increase taxes during a boom, cut taxes and increase spending during a bust. Keeps inflation during boom and deflation during a bust from being too high. The idea is to keep the boom from burning itself out (prevent leading to a crash) and to shorten the depth and duration of a bust (and eliminate them if possible). Keynes did point out that poor people are more likely to spend money they receive than the rich, so if you’re trying to get out of a demand-caused bust, dollar per dollar, redistributing to the poor is more effective. During a bust, the rich especially have a liquidity preference so they’ll hoard cash instead of spending it.
  - andi999 5y ago
    Somehow Keynes is very popular during the bust and somehow falls out of favor in the subsequent boom.
gverrilla 5y ago
I feel like remembering him is not enough.
sadfev 5y ago
His efforts and crusade went unnoticed for years and after his tragic death due to years of harassment and mental torture by lawyers and police, nothing changed. The world and internet specially is cruel phony place which hardly remembers anything good, dismisses worthwhile endeavors while engaging in irrelevant culture wars. Yes what Aaron did was illegal but the whole point of his crusade was that how unjust and inaccessible scientific research was to average person. Neither the morally bankrupt left nor the completely inept libertarians took up his cause after his death. His death will forever be in vain. It is a reminder for everyone to only take up “fashionable causes” which aren’t that important and only important for political mud slinging. It is a reminder for all young people and me, don’t take up worthy causes, don’t try to change the world for better, they will kill you and make you irrelevant forever. Just look after yourself like everyone does!
literallyaduck 5y ago
We should honor his memory by repealing and replacing the legal framework that murdered him by malicious prosecution. America instead rewarded the administration responsible with a shitty encore presidency, as an ill thought reaction to different presidency. They rebounded into the arms of an known abusive relationship. Thanks Obama. https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2015/01/obama-wont-fire-aaron-swartzs-federal-prosecutors/ https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2015/01/obama-wont-fire-...
- deleted 5y ago
  [deleted]
echopurity 5y ago
Fuck the fedz. Fuck IP.
gamesbrainiac 5y ago
I cried when he died. He chose the path less travelled by, and that made all the difference.
ChrisArchitect 5y ago
Change title to "Today" or "November 8th" instead of "this monday" so people know before even reading
shaneprrlt 5y ago
Aaron Swartz deserves a statue for future generations to know what he stood for and how he was martyred by the US government.
ldehaan 5y ago
Hopefully it is remembered that MIT had everything to do with it and people should go to other schools and stop supporting the corporate fascists at mit.
- rickdeveloper 5y ago
  Where? Is MIT truly beyond saving?
  - ldehaan 5y ago
    Is it worth saving? I don't think so. It's deep in with the war machine, it's deep in the student loan machine. It didn't relent after a human took his own life to protest their evil deeds, they still keep information under lock and key because they know it will set us free. You can't sell keys to the cuffs of ignorance if the cuffs come off for free brohizzle. Go elsewhere, start something new, with more awareness and responsibility.
kragen 5y ago
Tim Berners-Lee, who invented the Web, said that Aaron was a mentor to him. When I was doing a startup in 02000, we told him what we were doing; he replied by explaining all the problems we were going to run into in the next several months, and was mostly correct. He was 13. I worked with him on another small project later, called Watchdog.net; whenever we disagreed, he changed his mind when I presented my arguments, except when I was wrong. I have never met anyone else of whom I could say that. Aaron organized the successful effort to stop SOPA/PIPA, successfully provided public access to most of PACER at great risk to himself, founded Demand Progress, and made significant contributions to Markdown, RSS, Reddit (a company of which he was a founder), Creative Commons, Change Congress, and Wikipedia, all before committing suicide at 26 to escape legal persecution by the kind of people who use the word "hacker" to mean "computer criminal". In this comment thread there are a few semiliterate baboons saying things like "I don't understand the cult of personality around Aaron". They should be permanently banned from HN.
yesenadam 5y ago
*Remembrance
yesenadam 5y ago
Thread discussing the Aaron/reddit story etc in great detail, with a lot of comments from Aaron, gives a good taste of what he was like. https://old.reddit.com/r/reddit.com/comments/1octb/reddit_cofounder_aaron_swartz_discusses_how_he/ https://old.reddit.com/r/reddit.com/comments/1octb/reddit_co...
readonthegoapp 5y ago
i think the appropriate way to 'celebrate his life' is to actually push to achieve what he was trying to achieve -- namely, establishing free access to academic journals.
2143 5y ago
> costed him his life at 2008-12-13. It's Jan 11, 2013.

805 points by mofosyne 5y ago

afkqs 5y ago

For anyone who hasn't seen it yet. The Internet's Own Boy https://archive.org/details/TheInternetsOwnBoyTheStoryOfAaronSwartz https://archive.org/details/TheInternetsOwnBoyTheStoryOfAaro...

trevcanhuman 5y ago
Such a great documentary, also available on yt iirc.
- itsmemattchung 5y ago
  One of my favorite documentaries that I watch at least once every couple years. Brings me to tears — every time.
- weightless 5y ago
  It sure is - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9vz06QO3UkQ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9vz06QO3UkQ

mofosyne 5y ago

His birthday is November 8, 1986 Take the time to remember the kind of person he is. Electron workshop is having a watch party for Americans today at Monday, November 8 at 1pm in Illionis, US. https://venue.electronworkshop.com.au/b/dod-3rc-jhv-re0 https://venue.electronworkshop.com.au/b/dod-3rc-jhv-re0 For Aussies, the workshop is playing another session right now starting at 9pm Sydney time.

m_st 5y ago

You can also remember him for his work on Markdown, which he developed together with John Gruber (Daring Fireball): http://www.aaronsw.com/weblog/001189 http://www.aaronsw.com/weblog/001189 https://daringfireball.net/projects/markdown https://daringfireball.net/projects/markdown

clydethefrog 5y ago
And RSS! Fortunately it's still going strong and making so much information, even in the form of podcasts, accessible to all.
- peter422 5y ago
  For reference he was the 11th listed author among 12 for RSS version 1. I’m sure he has some contributions but he was not the main inventor of it.
  - ttepasse 5y ago
    And RSS 1.0 was a RDF-based reformulation of the XML-based RSS 0.91 from Scripting News/Dave Winer. That in turn was a fork of the XML-based RSS 0.91 from Netscape, which itself was a reformulation of the RDF-based RSS 0.9 from Netscape by Danny Libby and Ramanathan Guha. • https://web.archive.org/web/20060417192840/http://diveintomark.org/archives/2004/02/04/incompatible-rss https://web.archive.org/web/20060417192840/http://diveintoma... • https://twobithistory.org/2018/09/16/the-rise-and-demise-of-rss.html https://twobithistory.org/2018/09/16/the-rise-and-demise-of-...

tmvnty 5y ago

Here's a list of number one posts about Aaron in the past for those interested: https://hn-saga.com/?q=aaron https://hn-saga.com/?q=aaron

1cvmask 5y ago

Julian Assange and Edward Snowden are at least still alive despite the all the moves done by autocrats like Obama/Trump/Biden. Aaron unfortunately is not around us still. Let's remember how heavy handed the autocratic Obama administration was: https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-switch/wp/2015/01/08/in-a-long-delayed-petition-response-obama-refuses-to-fire-u-s-attorneys-over-aaron-swartz/ https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-switch/wp/2015/01/08...

mwint 5y ago
Can anyone get an archive.is link for this?
- lprd 5y ago
  Check out the Bypass Paywalls plugin for chrome/firefox. Its a lifesaver: https://github.com/iamadamdev/bypass-paywalls-chrome/blob/master/README.md https://github.com/iamadamdev/bypass-paywalls-chrome/blob/ma...
- codetrotter 5y ago
  Here https://archive.ph/htHfA https://archive.ph/htHfA
- e12e 5y ago
  > Can anyone get an archive.is link for this? FYI that's just the link: https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-switch/wp/2015/01/08/in-a-long-delayed-petition-response-obama-refuses-to-fire-u-s-attorneys-over-aaron-swartz/ Plus archive.is prefix: https://archive.is/https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-switch/wp/2015/01/08/in-a-long-delayed-petition-response-obama-refuses-to-fire-u-s-attorneys-over-aaron-swartz/ Which is a page: https://archive.is/https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-switch/wp/2015/01/08/in-a-long-delayed-petition-response-obama-refuses-to-fire-u-s-attorneys-over-aaron-swartz/ https://archive.is/https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-s... With link to article: https://archive.md/htHfA https://archive.md/htHfA
hellbannedguy 5y ago
Aaron seemed like the was dealing with a Huge amount of stress caused by his school, and the Fed, by himself basically. He needed more support. More than we gave him. It makes a huge difference when going through legal troubles if you have the right people around you, and I'm not taking just lawyers.

heckerhut 5y ago

I think I could’ve been friends with Aaron, he seemed like such a great person. That he took his own life says something about his attitude towards it and it resonates with me. It’s a choice and there may be reasons why you are willing to commit to it. Of course I wish he hadn’t but I respect it.

pyentropy 5y ago
I don't think it's attitude or philosophy. His death cannot just be attributed to his character, it's a complex issue. The prosecution put a huge toll on him and he talks in his blog about his problems with mood and ulcerative colitis and his emotional and sensory issues. http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2013/03/11/requiem-for-a-dream http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2013/03/11/requiem-for-a-d...
- heckerhut 5y ago
  For sure it’s complex and there are branches of the multiverse where he was never confronted with that decision because he had no major crises. But in this universe he made that decision consciously and ultimately voluntarily.

sokoloff 5y ago

> may have costed him his life at 2008-12-13. What does this line mean? Aaron took his own life several years later than that. That seems like a date copied from a Creative Commons event on his Wikipedia page and an odd error to make for someone following the story.

scambier 5y ago
And the following paragraph begins with "Eight years later, as we emerge from the global pandemic" So definitely a copy-paste error on the date.
Cthulhu_ 5y ago
I have serious questionmarks with the OP; the post is badly written and it's a relatively low karma user.

fidesomnes 5y ago

no one cares about this dead retard.

jzellis 5y ago

I remember the Creative Commons launch party, and mistaking Aaron for someone attendee's kid - he would have been what, Jesus, sixteen or seventeen? At least until Larry Lessig introduced him. He was so wee, and so obviously brilliant. I only ever met him in person once more, at CCC, but we were both working a little bit on an OLPC project. I had such respect for him. Vaya con Dios, kid.

ganzuul 5y ago

The day hope for justice died. Yes I remember.

kkjjkgjjgg 5y ago
But there wasn't an actual verdict, or was there?
- n8cpdx 5y ago
  No, Aaron never gave the justice system a chance to work. In more serious cases involving crimes against the state, hopeful, merciful outcomes have been found, as in the Chelsea Manning case: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chelsea_Manning https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chelsea_Manning I don’t think we should be glorifying a person who took his own life before facing justice.
  - modo_mario 5y ago
    >No, Aaron never gave the justice system a chance to work. I'd say his case was proof that the system didn't work. JSTOR dropped charges and urged for others to do the same yet that didn't go anywhere. It involve a credible threat of potentially up to $1 million in fines, 35 years in prison and restitution. A threat that would push anyone to to take the plea deal in the process avoiding reaching for actual justice. (And even that plea deal was ridiculous) If that's how it's supposed to work then it's fucked. >as in the Chelsea Manning case Someone exposing crimes for moral reasons "only" sentenced to 35 years of maximum security. Was this attended as some misplaced sarcasm?
  - bo1024 5y ago
    On the contrary, the justice system was working against him for the entire two years between his arrest and suicide. Additional indictments, plea deals, counter-offers, threats, etc. Two years of a person's life before they even get to trial! That's the American "justice" system. In fact, in the federal justice system, only 2% of defendants end up going to trial -- most end up accepting a plea deal (and we can guess how much bullying and threatening go into that). By analogy to your argument, 98% of defendants never "face justice". Or maybe better put, they never receive justice. A source: https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2019/06/11/only-2-of-federal-criminal-defendants-go-to-trial-and-most-who-do-are-found-guilty/ https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2019/06/11/only-2-of-f...

chrisseaton 5y ago

> If you are from Reddit or Hackernews, you will be very familiar with how the next few years will go for Arron 99.99% of people from Reddit will have never heard of Aaron (not 'Arron'). I think people mis-estimate what most people on that site are for - but it's not tech activism anymore, if it ever was, and they don't have any interest in who runs the site, much less who used to run the site.

timintheglades 5y ago
He'd be disgusted at the censored echo chamber Reddit has become.
- brian_herman 5y ago
  And the fact they took him off the founder page.
- rusk 5y ago
  He’d probably also have been equally disgusted at what “free speech” manifested as.
  - twofornone 5y ago
    Are you sure? Or would people be accusing him of "white supremacy"? Edit: how deliciously ironic, on a thread about Aaron Swartz, a comment questioning censorship is flagged.
    - vanderZwan 5y ago
      On the basis of what exactly?
      - twofornone 5y ago
        On the basis of defending "hate speech", according to at least one organization he cofounded[0]: >and in opposition to censorship and corporate control of government I truly wonder what position he would have taken regarding covid/vaccine censorship. Or reddit's implicit authoritarian policy against criticism of LGB and especially T. He seems like an enough of an idealist to have been a free speech absolutist. 0. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Demand_Progress https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Demand_Progress

dave_sullivan 5y ago

It was a tragedy and good example of how the government will crush what it does not understand under a boot. Things haven't gotten better.

konfin 5y ago
It's far too kind an explanation to assume they don't.

fordp 5y ago

"They were singing, bye-bye, Miss American Pie.." [edited] I can remember the day, reading about Aaron's death. And the following days, reading up about his life. The investigation by MIT to see if they played any role in it. Led by Hal Abelson. Above song was playing whilst I read this submission, so I posted it because it felt appropriate. But I should have added some context..

donatj 5y ago

His death to this day frustrates me. The world needs Aaron Swartz now more than ever.

ganzuul 5y ago
They showed us that they have no qualms about murdering us when we speak up for what we belive is right. If there is anywhere that we can go from here, it is not to be done as a united civilization.

zalequin 5y ago

I don’t understand the cult of personality around Aaron. It’s like a self insert for people that fantasize about sticking it to the man or something; the tragic hero, the genius boy who died not realizing his potential, the man who dared to defy the authorities. Yawn. Fact is Aaron was an angsty teen with an axe to grind with the authorities . Reading Chomsky certainly didn’t help. Acting out childishly by spreading copy righted material, getting caught and whining about how all of this is so unfair… Look, he was no genius. Genius does not invent reddit; it invents facebook and then proceeds to take over the world because actual, real, genius understands the rules of the game. Aaron was smart enough to understand just how fucked things are but oh so very dumb to act out on his aggressive impulses. The very same impulses that later lead him to kill himself. Ironically his suicide accomplished far more than his technical know how could ever hope to achieve. p.s. aaron was no hero. You dont ever want to be him and you certainly dont want your children to be him. His ideals were pure and correct, but he could not accept we’re living in a world filled with trash humans. Should’ve played the game correctly imho.

deleted 5y ago
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raxxorrax 5y ago
Maybe the prosecution by an Obama diversity hire that drove him into financial ruin was part of that too. Of course all these nasty civil rights movements were just emotional impulses that could not control themselves. Of course there is an unchangeable game subjected to the rules of power and you understand that and we should build a cult of personality around you instead? No thank you.
mberning 5y ago
Agree completely. By all accounts he was a bright guy, bu he did something very foolish. He did a crime and rather than play ball he martyred himself. Yes there probably was prosecutorial overreach and yes our criminal justice system could use reform. But this guy was no saint in the matter and could have easily got off with a minor sentence.
- 5y ago

radmuzom 5y ago

One of Aaron's contributions is not mentioned very frequently. He is also the co-founder of the site Demand Progress, created to fight for various progressive causes. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Demand_Progress https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Demand_Progress

9387367 5y ago

For historical value, the effort to remove Aaron as Reddit co-founder by Alexis Ohanian and Steve Huffman. paulgraham 40 points 14 years ago Aaron's not wrong to call himself one of the founders. The company behind Reddit was a merger of two startups, one that made Reddit and one that made Infogami, and in that situation the founders of both startups are considered founders of the combined company. https://old.reddit.com/r/reddit.com/comments/1octb/reddit_cofounder_aaron_swartz_discusses_how_he/c1okmc/ https://old.reddit.com/r/reddit.com/comments/1octb/reddit_co... previously: 2006 - https://web.archive.org/web/20070823200504/http://startupstories.com/2006/11/29/passion-for-your-users-will-come-back-alexis-ohanian-co-founder-of-reddit/ https://web.archive.org/web/20070823200504/http://startupsto... 2007 - https://old.reddit.com/r/reddit.com/comments/1octb/reddit_cofounder_aaron_swartz_discusses_how_he/c1oewi/?context=3 https://old.reddit.com/r/reddit.com/comments/1octb/reddit_co... 2007 - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=20219 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=20219 2010 - https://old.reddit.com/r/todayilearned/comments/d2njs/til_there_was_a_third_cofounder_of_reddit_who_was/c0x40yz/?context=3 https://old.reddit.com/r/todayilearned/comments/d2njs/til_th... 2011 - https://bits.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/07/19/reddit-co-founder-charged-with-data-theft/ https://bits.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/07/19/reddit-co-founder-... 2011 - https://archive.md/IRuu8 https://archive.md/IRuu8 2020 - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=24677419 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=24677419 2020 - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=24713422 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=24713422 2021 - https://www.redditinc.com/#section-4 https://www.redditinc.com/#section-4

jimhi 5y ago
I clicked through your links and the explanations Paul, Alexis, Steve, and even Aaron himself write are pretty consistent. This comment is very unfair
password4321 5y ago
> 2020 - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=24677419 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=24677419 > ... > 2020 - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=24677419 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=24677419 Did you link the same discussion twice on purpose?
- 5y ago

godelmachine 5y ago

I put Aaron Swartz at par with Alexandra Elbakyan. I wish I could financially support Ms Elbakyan's efforts but I am not so good at cryptocurrencies.

iakov 5y ago
Bitcoin is practically a consumer technology with youtube channels, tens of mobile apps and even bitcoin exchange machines in tech hubs. This is just a lazy excuse in 2021.
honkdaddy 5y ago
I know 12 year old fortnite kiddos that have purchased Bitcoin. It’s not really something to be “good with” anymore - if you want to support Alexandra, put your money where your mouth is :)

kkjjkgjjgg 5y ago

He did many great things, but to be honest I also think of him as an example of how activism can consume people and ruin their lives.

EarthIsHome 5y ago
> I also think of him as an example of how activism can consume people and ruin their lives The feds and those in power ruined his life. Our legal system ruined his life. Our society ruined his life. This line of thinking is like "don't even attempt to change the status quo."
- Cthulhu_ 5y ago
  > This line of thinking is like "don't even attempt to change the status quo." Well you can, but not on your own. There's a few people that try to shoulder the whole burden.
- kkjjkgjjgg 5y ago
  In most cases, people shouldn't die for causes (or if not die, devote most of their lives to them). Activism is also usually not the only way to change things.

danielrhodes 5y ago

It’s also worth remembering that Aaron Swartz was driven to near bankruptcy and facing prison time over a victimless crime that in the greater scheme of things seems quite trivial. The prosecutors, Stephen Heymann and Carmen Ortiz, used their discretion to play hardball and this in no small part played a role in his decision to take his own life. On the plus side, however, it appears their abuses of power more or less ended their careers. Heymann has not updated his LinkedIn in almost a decade and Ortiz’s ambitions to become governor of Massachusetts were squashed.

ethbr0 5y ago
Naming the perpetrators, and continuing to name them, is important. It will never make things right, but it's critical to making the future righter. Preventing crimes of a system require that system's individuals to set aside apathy and create ongoing consequences for perpetrators as an example to those who would do similarly. Sometimes those consequences are just keeping a name and memory alive, and linking it with those at fault. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carmen_Ortiz#Prosecution_of_Aaron_Swartz https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carmen_Ortiz#Prosecution_of_... https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stephen_Heymann#Aaron_Swartz https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stephen_Heymann#Aaron_Swartz
deleted 5y ago
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q1w2 5y ago
There is a strong desire these days for prosecutors to punish "hackers", and this political pressure has intensified with the recent ransomware attacks. Politicians and prosecutors are frustrated that most the suspects are abroad so they crack down on any "hacker" they catch domestically with punitive zeal. It is normal in highly technical cases for prosecutors to throw "experts" and jargon at the judge and jury - which without contravening testimony from a defense witness, it generally accepted. This effectively turns the justice system on its head - placing the burden of proof and the heavy cost of defense on the accused. Let me give some words that might help from cases I've worked on (not limited to hacking cases)... Rule 1. Shut the F up. Transparency is not your friend. I have seen cases where sysadmins have told the truth about the tech, and then had charges of obstruction levied against them, because someone who had no knowledge of the tech in the accounting dept contradicted something they said. For example, provide exactly what's legally required by court order or your lawyer's advice - only in the exact time range requested and only the fields requested. Answer only the question you are asked, and as succinctly as possible. Make sure that any answers you give are either in writing or with the presence of a lawyer. I have also seen investigators claim someone provided contradictory information, just because the investigators themselves misunderstood the answer. Rule 2. There are no "routine" investigations. Get a lawyer. Do not treat any interaction with authorities lightly. If they are talking to you or your company, they are not your friends. Make sure your lawyer pressures them to define and limit the scope and time period of any investigations to only exactly what's needed for whatever they're investigating. Do not assume that just because they're investigating one of your clients, that you have no legal liability. Rule 3. Do not run a company like an infinite data retention store. Old files/records/databases/etc are a legal liability, because prosecutors can and WILL misrepresent data in court to try to pressure you. Hold data for legally required period, and then delete it permanently. Limit access within the company to only the data that people need to do their jobs. Transparency is not your friend. Rule 4. Being innocent does not absolve you of legal liability. Being innocent does not keep you out of court. Disgruntled customers can make things up or misunderstand. Disgruntled employees can make stuff up or misunderstand facts. You competitors in the market can make things up or misunderstand. All of these people can and will testify against you in court, and prosecutors can and DO construct cases based on misinformation. Rule 5. Do not engage criticisms on social media. You have a near-zero chance of convincing the mob of anything. Anything said publicly can and will be used against you in court. Also remember that legal liability extends to civil suits. Unhappy clients, employees, competitors, partners, will all use any information they can get to try to bias the court against you. I've seen cases where partners used social media content to claim grounds to break contracts without penalty. In summary, as a company, STFU.

both_cucumbers 5y ago

I once commented "The world would be a better place with Aaron Swartz in it" on Reddit and got downvoted. That's the sad world we live in.

lal00 5y ago

Does anyone know when/how were the users of Infogami got merged with the Reddit ones? I barely remember a thing about Infogami but my user from there exists at Reddit.

ArtTimeInvestor 5y ago

I guess this is his website? http://www.aaronsw.com/ http://www.aaronsw.com/ Interesting, that he introduced himself in the third person. I wonder what made him take this approach?

trevcanhuman 5y ago
His family/friends probably changed it.
- ArtTimeInvestor 5y ago
  You mean after his death? I don't think so. Waybackmachine shows it was like this in early 2012 already.
Cthulhu_ 5y ago
I dunno, it's not uncommon to do so on e.g. CVs.
garbagetime 5y ago
I have noticed that it is not unusual to do so on personal websites.
JCharante 5y ago
He also has his previous website, and his previous previous website (same url). Most of it is archived on way back machine, and there are many pages worth reading.
throwawaygh 5y ago
I wouldn't over-analyze. Third person intros are very common on personal websites, especially for folks who often give talks, invited lectures, or are written about in the press. If your personal website starts with a short intro written in 3rd person then the person introducing your talk/lecture will, 9/10 times, simply read out your own description of yourself. Reporters will summarize the key points when introducing you in a story. Assuming the person speaking/writing about you is favorable or neutral, you control exactly how you're framed. If you write the intro in first person or have an overly pithy description, then they'll sort of make their own intro which could go well or not so well ;-)

throwawayswede 5y ago

He'd be horrified at what Reddit has become.

notthemessiah 5y ago

It doesn't as get much attention, but Aaron was working a lot on a lot of pro-democracy anti-corruption money-out-of-politics activism in his latter years, founding "Change Congress" with Lessig, which later became "Rootstrikers", an organization focused on eradicating dark money in politics. Aaron Swartz was also a Progressive (having co-founded "Demand Progress") and a Keynesian (http://www.aaronsw.com/weblog/keynes http://www.aaronsw.com/weblog/keynes) who believed in taxing the rich in the service of a functioning economy, I wonder what he would have thought about all the bullshit coming from Paul Graham these days in his vitriolic defense of the status quo. He couldn't be very happy to hear Graham saying we don't need to tax and spend on infrastructure to get us out of the climate mess.

yesenadam 5y ago
> all the bullshit coming from Paul Graham these days in his vitriolic defense of the status quo. Do you have a link to some examples of that? I don't remember pg being remotely vitriolic about anything in his recent writing, but I haven't followed closely, am not on Twitter etc.
Robotbeat 5y ago
Just to clarify, Keynesianism isn’t particularly about who you tax but when tax and spending should occur. The idea is to be countercyclical. Cut spending and increase taxes during a boom, cut taxes and increase spending during a bust. Keeps inflation during boom and deflation during a bust from being too high. The idea is to keep the boom from burning itself out (prevent leading to a crash) and to shorten the depth and duration of a bust (and eliminate them if possible). Keynes did point out that poor people are more likely to spend money they receive than the rich, so if you’re trying to get out of a demand-caused bust, dollar per dollar, redistributing to the poor is more effective. During a bust, the rich especially have a liquidity preference so they’ll hoard cash instead of spending it.
- andi999 5y ago
  Somehow Keynes is very popular during the bust and somehow falls out of favor in the subsequent boom.

gverrilla 5y ago

I feel like remembering him is not enough.

sadfev 5y ago

His efforts and crusade went unnoticed for years and after his tragic death due to years of harassment and mental torture by lawyers and police, nothing changed. The world and internet specially is cruel phony place which hardly remembers anything good, dismisses worthwhile endeavors while engaging in irrelevant culture wars. Yes what Aaron did was illegal but the whole point of his crusade was that how unjust and inaccessible scientific research was to average person. Neither the morally bankrupt left nor the completely inept libertarians took up his cause after his death. His death will forever be in vain. It is a reminder for everyone to only take up “fashionable causes” which aren’t that important and only important for political mud slinging. It is a reminder for all young people and me, don’t take up worthy causes, don’t try to change the world for better, they will kill you and make you irrelevant forever. Just look after yourself like everyone does!

literallyaduck 5y ago

We should honor his memory by repealing and replacing the legal framework that murdered him by malicious prosecution. America instead rewarded the administration responsible with a shitty encore presidency, as an ill thought reaction to different presidency. They rebounded into the arms of an known abusive relationship. Thanks Obama. https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2015/01/obama-wont-fire-aaron-swartzs-federal-prosecutors/ https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2015/01/obama-wont-fire-...

deleted 5y ago
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echopurity 5y ago

Fuck the fedz. Fuck IP.

gamesbrainiac 5y ago

I cried when he died. He chose the path less travelled by, and that made all the difference.

ChrisArchitect 5y ago

Change title to "Today" or "November 8th" instead of "this monday" so people know before even reading

shaneprrlt 5y ago

Aaron Swartz deserves a statue for future generations to know what he stood for and how he was martyred by the US government.

ldehaan 5y ago

Hopefully it is remembered that MIT had everything to do with it and people should go to other schools and stop supporting the corporate fascists at mit.

rickdeveloper 5y ago
Where? Is MIT truly beyond saving?
- ldehaan 5y ago
  Is it worth saving? I don't think so. It's deep in with the war machine, it's deep in the student loan machine. It didn't relent after a human took his own life to protest their evil deeds, they still keep information under lock and key because they know it will set us free. You can't sell keys to the cuffs of ignorance if the cuffs come off for free brohizzle. Go elsewhere, start something new, with more awareness and responsibility.

kragen 5y ago

Tim Berners-Lee, who invented the Web, said that Aaron was a mentor to him. When I was doing a startup in 02000, we told him what we were doing; he replied by explaining all the problems we were going to run into in the next several months, and was mostly correct. He was 13. I worked with him on another small project later, called Watchdog.net; whenever we disagreed, he changed his mind when I presented my arguments, except when I was wrong. I have never met anyone else of whom I could say that. Aaron organized the successful effort to stop SOPA/PIPA, successfully provided public access to most of PACER at great risk to himself, founded Demand Progress, and made significant contributions to Markdown, RSS, Reddit (a company of which he was a founder), Creative Commons, Change Congress, and Wikipedia, all before committing suicide at 26 to escape legal persecution by the kind of people who use the word "hacker" to mean "computer criminal". In this comment thread there are a few semiliterate baboons saying things like "I don't understand the cult of personality around Aaron". They should be permanently banned from HN.

yesenadam 5y ago

*Remembrance

yesenadam 5y ago

Thread discussing the Aaron/reddit story etc in great detail, with a lot of comments from Aaron, gives a good taste of what he was like. https://old.reddit.com/r/reddit.com/comments/1octb/reddit_cofounder_aaron_swartz_discusses_how_he/ https://old.reddit.com/r/reddit.com/comments/1octb/reddit_co...

readonthegoapp 5y ago

i think the appropriate way to 'celebrate his life' is to actually push to achieve what he was trying to achieve -- namely, establishing free access to academic journals.

2143 5y ago

> costed him his life at 2008-12-13. It's Jan 11, 2013.