Aaron Swartz Commits Suicide

Prosecutor as bully | Lessig Blog, v2

Aaron had literally done nothing in his life “to make money.” He was fortunate Reddit turned out as it did, but from his work building the RSS standard, to his work architecting Creative Commons, to his work liberating public records, to his work building a free public library, to his work supporting Change Congress/FixCongressFirst/Rootstrikers, and then Demand Progress, Aaron was always and only working for (at least his conception of) the public good. He was brilliant, and funny. A kid genius. A soul, a conscience, the source of a question I have asked myself a million times: What would Aaron think? That person is gone today, driven to the edge by what a decent society would only call bullying. I get wrong. But I also get proportionality. And if you don’t get both, you don’t deserve to have the power of the United States government behind you.

Lawrence Lessig on Aaron Swartz | Daring Fireball

RIP, Aaron Swartz | Boing Boing

Beautiful tribute to Aaron Swartz from Cory Doctorow.

‘Unsolved Forever’ | Daring Fireball

Remember Aaron Swartz | aaronsw.com

Aaron’s death is not simply a personal tragedy. It is the product of a criminal justice system rife with intimidation and prosecutorial overreach. Decisions made by officials in the Massachusetts U.S. Attorney’s office and at MIT contributed to his death.

Remember Aaron Swartz | Daring Fireball

Aaron Swartz Commits Suicide | Daring Fireball

Aaron was a friend and a brilliant mind. He was my only beta tester for Markdown back in 2004, and frequently offered keen feedback on my work here at DF. He had an enormous intellect — again, a brilliant mind — but also an enormous capacity for empathy. He was a great person. I’m dumbfounded and heartbroken. Good thoughts and best wishes to his family and those who were truly close to him.

Legal Case Strained Troubled Web Activist | WSJ.com

The Truth about Aaron Swartz’s “Crime” | Unhandled Exception

MIT Responds to Death of Activist Aaron Swartz, Begins Investigation | AllThingsD

Researchers begin posting article PDFs to twitter in #pdftribute to Aaron Swartz | Neuroconscience

Hacker, activist, Internet wunderkind Aaron Swartz dead at 26 | The Loop

Aaron Swartz, hacker, information activist and developer, took his own life on Friday at age 26. Cory Doctorow has posted a eulogy for his friend at BoingBoing.net, and if you’re not familiar with his work, it’s a good place to start.

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