Computer Activist, 26, commits suicide (was co-owner of Reddit)

[MNeagle]

Aaron Swartz commits suicide

By Anne Cai (http://gold-silver.us/author/Anne+Cai/)
NEWS EDITOR; UPDATED AT 2:15 A.M. 1/12/13

Computer activist Aaron H. Swartz committed suicide in New York City yesterday, Jan. 11, according to his uncle, Michael Wolf, in a comment to The Tech. Swartz was 26.


“The tragic and heartbreaking information you received is, regrettably, true,” confirmed Swartz’ attorney, Elliot R. Peters of Kecker and Van Nest, in an email to The Tech.


Swartz was indicted in July 2011 by a federal grand jury for allegedly mass downloading documents from the JSTOR online journal archive with the intent to distribute them. He subsequently moved to Brooklyn, New York, where he then worked for Avaaz Foundation, a nonprofit “global web movement to bring people-powered politics to decision-making everywhere.” Swartz appeared in court on Sept. 24, 2012 and pleaded not guilty.


The accomplished Swartz co-authored the now widely-used RSS 1.0 specification at age 14, was one of the three co-owners of the popular social news site Reddit, and completed a fellowship at Harvard’s Ethics Center Lab on Institutional Corruption. In 2010, he founded DemandProgress.org (http://demandprogress.org/), a “campaign against the Internet censorship bills SOPA/PIPA.”


http://tech.mit.edu/V132/N61/swartz.html?comments#comments

http://tech.mit.edu/V132/N61/swartz.html?comments#comments

[joboo]

Reserving conclusions atm, but I'm very curious to see what/when fpsrussia's next video is like.

[PatColo]

Aaron Swartz's Family Blame His Death On Prosecutors, MIT ... (http://gothamist.com/2013/01/13/aaron_swartzs_family_blame_his_deat.php)
Aaron Swartz's Unbending Prosecutors Insisted on Prison Time ... (http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2013/01/15/aaron-swartz-s-unbending-prosecutors-insisted-on-prison-time.html)

[PlatinumBlonde]

'Aaron was killed by the government' - Robert Swartz on his son's death (http://us.mg4.mail.yahoo.com/dc/Aaron%20was%20killed%20by%20the%20government%20-%20Robert%20Swartz%20on%20his%20sons%20death)

Israeli government?

[PatColo]

I edited that reply with working links- original was broken. Don't know who did the deed but appears to have been suicided - he was critic of obummer's "kill list". I assume it's a deep rabbit hole but I haven't spent any real time looking into it at this point.

[vacuum]

Fire Assistant U.S. Attorney Steve Heymann. Assistant U.S. Attorney Steve Heymann's overzealous prosecution of an allegedly minor and non-violent electronic crime led to the suicide of Aaron Swartz. President Obama recently said, as repeated by Vice President Biden, "if our actions result in saving only one life, they're worth taking." We should not destroy the lives of human beings for crimes against computer systems that harm no one and provide no benefit to the perpetrator. Such actions should be treated as forms of protest and civil disobedience. To prosecute these actions the same as rapes and murders is a savage abuse of the criminal justice system which continues to destroy the lives of peaceful, productive members of society.
Fire Attorney Steve Heymann before his reckless prosecutions claim any more lives.
Created: Jan 12, 2013



https://petitions.whitehouse.gov/petition/fire-assistant-us-attorney-steve-heymann/RJKSY2nb

[JDRock]

swartz was one of the good guys....the word on the street is when he was nosing around mit's files he found concrete links to pedophile rings servicing congress and the white(black) house....yeah..look past his jewishness he was offed.

[Rubberchicken]

"It's very, very difficult not to be angry about the circumstances of his death," said economist Dean Baker, co-director of the Center for Economic Policy and Research. "This is a Justice Department that couldn't find anyone to prosecute for the tens of billions in fraudulent mortgages that were issued, but somehow had time and resources" to pursue Swartz."



http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/02/05/aaron-swartz-memorial-darrell-issa_n_2619872.html

And we ask WHY the country is fucked up? Really?