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I guess for context I'll add this is Aaron Swartz, a cofounder of Reddit, and fierce advocate for free speech. He was federally prosecuted for wire fraud in 201

I guess for context I'll add this is Aaron Swartz, a cofounder of Reddit, and fierce advocate for free speech. He was federally prosecuted for wire fraud in 2013 for downloading academic journals from MIT, faced up to 30 years in prison, and committed suicide just before his trial. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aaron_Swartz https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aaron_Swartz

belval 3y ago
I had seen his name thrown around but I didn't know the story. Thank you for sharing, from the layman's perspective it really seems like an overreach of federal prosecution.
- assimpleaspossi 3y ago
  Well, he did create reddit.
  - ineedasername 3y ago
    There is some truly awful irony that a cofounder of reddit, with reddit's current actions, was the victim of a reactionary bully justice system for using his legal access to the JSTOR database [1] even though JSTOR came to a non-criminal settlement with him over it. A prosecution that undoubtedly contributed (or caused) mental health difficulties leading to his suicide. And now, a decade later, the reddit platform that he cofounded is betraying the principles of that cofounder. [1] Yes it's slightly more complex than that, I know, but not to anything that should have come anywhere near the attention of criminal prosecutors. He used his legitimate access to download far more than JSTOR ever thought someone would do. He did it in a basement that anyone walking around the building could go into, and entering an unlocked closet where he connected his laptop to a network switch wherein he left the laptop running while downloading. ~ Heck even after MIT noticed this they didn't lock the closet! Instead the just surveilled it with a camera to observe who might be going in & out. If there was any harm at all from these actions is was merely that downloading the way he did made the JSTOR system slow down at times until they blocked the offending IPs, and then the whole block. A decade later and this injustice still fills me with sadness and rage every time it comes up. And as cynical as I get with every passing year, I hope to hell that I still at least hang on to that sadness and rage and never let time and cynicism dull its edge.
city41 3y ago
Aaron is often said to be a reddit founder but I dont think that is true. His Wikipedia page goes into the details. He founded infogami and created web.py as part of that. He later joined up with reddit and helped port reddit from lisp to python. The article states "As a result, Swartz was given the title of co-founder of Reddit." Which sounds retroactive/honorary to me. Not to put down Aaron in any way. Just interested in what really happened.
- chrisco255 3y ago
  You don't have to be at a company at literally the moment of inception in order to be classified as a founder. Basically, did he invest key talent and resources early in the company's lifespan, before it hit product-market fit? Yes. Infogami (Aaron's company) merged with Reddit 6 months in. Reddit was still largely unknown when infogami merged with it in 2005. Swartz was given equal shares so clearly Ohanian and Huffman valued this merger highly.

belval 3y ago

I had seen his name thrown around but I didn't know the story. Thank you for sharing, from the layman's perspective it really seems like an overreach of federal prosecution.

assimpleaspossi 3y ago
Well, he did create reddit.
- ineedasername 3y ago
  There is some truly awful irony that a cofounder of reddit, with reddit's current actions, was the victim of a reactionary bully justice system for using his legal access to the JSTOR database [1] even though JSTOR came to a non-criminal settlement with him over it. A prosecution that undoubtedly contributed (or caused) mental health difficulties leading to his suicide. And now, a decade later, the reddit platform that he cofounded is betraying the principles of that cofounder. [1] Yes it's slightly more complex than that, I know, but not to anything that should have come anywhere near the attention of criminal prosecutors. He used his legitimate access to download far more than JSTOR ever thought someone would do. He did it in a basement that anyone walking around the building could go into, and entering an unlocked closet where he connected his laptop to a network switch wherein he left the laptop running while downloading. ~ Heck even after MIT noticed this they didn't lock the closet! Instead the just surveilled it with a camera to observe who might be going in & out. If there was any harm at all from these actions is was merely that downloading the way he did made the JSTOR system slow down at times until they blocked the offending IPs, and then the whole block. A decade later and this injustice still fills me with sadness and rage every time it comes up. And as cynical as I get with every passing year, I hope to hell that I still at least hang on to that sadness and rage and never let time and cynicism dull its edge.

city41 3y ago

Aaron is often said to be a reddit founder but I dont think that is true. His Wikipedia page goes into the details. He founded infogami and created web.py as part of that. He later joined up with reddit and helped port reddit from lisp to python. The article states "As a result, Swartz was given the title of co-founder of Reddit." Which sounds retroactive/honorary to me. Not to put down Aaron in any way. Just interested in what really happened.

chrisco255 3y ago
You don't have to be at a company at literally the moment of inception in order to be classified as a founder. Basically, did he invest key talent and resources early in the company's lifespan, before it hit product-market fit? Yes. Infogami (Aaron's company) merged with Reddit 6 months in. Reddit was still largely unknown when infogami merged with it in 2005. Swartz was given equal shares so clearly Ohanian and Huffman valued this merger highly.