Processing the loss of Aaron Swartz

http://www.zephoria.org/thoughts/archives/2013/01/13/aaron-swartz.html

 

The whole thing is sickening. Was he wrong for that last act? Yeah, he was. But how the situation was treated was much worse than his act. I hope he's somewhere better.

 

I'm so sorry he had to go through that.... I hope he is in a better place now.

 

Aaron Swartz Case

Good overview, lots of links, totally biased for net freedom. Read a few of his other bloggings.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2013/jan/16/ortiz-heymann-swartz-accountability-abuse

And more legalistic:

http://www.volokh.com/2013/01/14/aaron-swartz-charges/?ModPagespeed=noscript

IMHO, it's about proportionality and unaccountable power.

 

Re: AARON SWARTZ CASE

Another:

http://www.wired.com/opinion/2013/01/beyond-aaron-swartz-we-dont-need-martyrs-but-changes/

 

Re: AARON SWARTZ CASE

That's incredibly sad.

 

DEEPEST SYMPATHY

"“Pursuant to FRCP [Federal Rules of Criminal Procedure] 48(a), the United States Attorney for the District of Massachusetts, Carmen M. Ortiz, hereby dismisses the case presently pending against Defendant Aaron Swartz. In support of this dismissal, the government states that Mr. Swartz died on January 11, 2013.”

www.wired.com/threatlevel/2013/01/swartz-dismissed/

 

Re: DEEPEST SYMPATHY

I conceal my identity the same way Aaron was indicted for.

-- Tom

 

Re: Aaron Swartz Case

This is very not good.

 

Re: DEEPEST SYMPATHY

Regarding that "I conceal my identity the same way Aaron was indicted for" article, be sure to read the linked to Superseding Indictment:

http://erratasec.blogspot.com/2013/01/i-conceal-my-identity-same-way-aaron.html

Having done so, albeit it quickly, it doesn't appear to me that Mr. Swartz was indicted for concealing his identity. It appears to me he was indicted for things he did *while* concealing his identity. Where the "identity deceptions" could be claimed to have been done in order to work around mechanisms for blocking such access (doing something wrong) and in an attempt to get away with it without being personally identified (knowing you are doing something wrong).

The closest parallel described:

does involve steps to protect his identity, but there would appear to be no attempt to defraud and he actually paid for the service. IOW, I don't think that example or his others closely match the Swartz/MIT/JSTOR context.

Having said that, this does make me wonder if someone could win a claim that simply providing false/inaccurate personal information (say your name and address) when registering for something *is* an attempt to defraud on the basis that the user's use of false information deprived them of the benefits they would have gained from selling, profiling, etc the user's real information.

 

Re: Aaron Swartz Case

Terrible

 

Re: Aaron Swartz Case

Personally I didn't know who he was, until I found out that he had died.

I guess I got some reading to do.

 

http://www.economist.com/news/obitu...-committed-suicide-january-11th-aged-26-aaron

http://www.economist.com/blogs/babbage/2013/01/remembering-aaron-swartz?spc=scode&spv=xm

 

Re: Aaron Swartz Case

Well thought-out article; gets to the real issue:

"Power never pleads guilty."

http://www.wired.com/opinion/2013/01/aaron-swartz-activism-and-the-two-sided-sword-of-power/

 

Re: Aaron Swartz Case

Maybe what I'm about to write is in bad taste, and if so, I apologize.

If Aaron Swartz had done his PACER work pseudonymously, he might have never been arrested, and might still be alive. I read about his work years ago, looking for a way to get case law for free, but I didn't remember his name. Could he have accomplished what he did while being pseudonymous?

Julian Assange is still alive, but he's stuck in a small apartment in London. Was his name essential to establishing Wikileaks?

 

Re: Aaron Swartz Case

Assange is in deep ****. He knows it, that's why he is still in hiding. If you don't know Sabu the lulzsec snitch gave him the Strattafor emails that were actually hosted on a FBI server. So they set Assange up and he took the bait. Just stupid **** that will get him indited in the USA for accepting stolen documents. I'm not sure if you read the wikileaks cable's but Sweden rolled over and played the USA's bitch in regards to extraordinary rendition of terrorism suspects, that's why he is so afraid of going there.


Assange is Wikileaks, it's his baby. But he has to redeem himself after getting mixed up with that snitch Sabu. I'm on the fence about him now, I used to support him but he's made some stupid mistakes.

 

http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2013/jan/20/aaron-swartz-cannon-fodder-internet-freedom

 

Re: Aaron Swartz Case

No, I didn't know about the Strattafor emails and the Sweden back story. But yes, he's facing a life sentence in prison, either in London or somewhere in the US.

My point, though, was that Wikileaks could have been Hector Trudel's baby instead. Did anything that Assange did really depend on using his real name? Did he actually need to physically meet people, even?