Aaron Swartz | |
---|---|
![]() Swartz in BiB 2011 at Internet Archive's headquarters in San Francisco | |
Born | Aaron Hillel Swartz[1] November 8, 1986 |
Died | January 11, 2013 Brooklyn, New York, U.S. | (aged 26)
Cause of death | Suicide by hanging |
Education |
|
Occupations |
|
Organizations |
|
Title | Fellow, Harvard University Edmond J. Safra Center for Ethics |
Partners | Quinn Norton (2007–2011)
Taren Stinebrickner-Kauffman (2011–2013) |
Awards |
|
Website | aaronsw.com |
Aaron Hillel Swartz (/ˈɛ(ə).rən hɪ.ˈlɛl ˈswɔːrts/; November 8, 1986 – January 11, 2013), also known as AaronSw, was an American computer programmer, entrepreneur, writer, political organizer, and Internet hacktivist. As a programmer, Swartz helped develop the web feed format RSS;[3] the technical architecture for Creative Commons, an organization dedicated to creating copyright licenses;[3] the website framework web.py; and the lightweight markup language format Markdown. Swartz was involved in the development of the social news aggregation website Reddit until he departed from the company in 2007.[note 1] He is often credited as a martyr and a prodigy,[8][9] and his work focused on civic awareness and activism.[10][11][12]
After Reddit was sold to Condé Nast Publications in 2006, Swartz became more involved in activism, helping launch the Progressive Change Campaign Committee in 2009. In 2010, he became a research fellow at Harvard University's Safra Research Lab on Institutional Corruption, directed by Lawrence Lessig.[13][14] He founded the online group Demand Progress, known for its campaign against the Stop Online Piracy Act.
On January 6, 2011, Swartz was arrested by Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) police on state breaking-and-entering charges, after connecting a computer to the MIT network in an unmarked and unlocked closet and setting it to download academic journal articles systematically from JSTOR using a guest user account issued to him by MIT.[15][16] Federal prosecutors, led by Carmen Ortiz, later charged him with two counts of wire fraud and eleven violations of the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act,[17] carrying a cumulative maximum penalty of $1 million in fines, 35 years in prison, asset forfeiture, restitution, and supervised release.[18] Swartz declined a plea bargain under which he would have served six months in federal prison.[19] Two days after the prosecution rejected a counter-offer by Swartz, he was found dead in his Brooklyn apartment.[20][21] In 2013, Swartz was inducted posthumously into the Internet Hall of Fame.[22]
yearwood
was invoked but never defined (see the help page).Wired-arrest
was invoked but never defined (see the help page).Aaron isn't a founder of reddit.
martyr
was invoked but never defined (see the help page).prodigy
was invoked but never defined (see the help page).What is the most important thing you could be working on in the world right now? ... And if you're not working on that, why aren't you?Swartz may have been quoting Richard Hamming's talk You and Your Research
[Swartz] was in the middle of a fellowship at Harvard's Edmond J. Safra Center for Ethics, in its Lab on Institutional Corruption
During the fellowship year, he will conduct experimental and ethnographic studies of the political system to prepare a monograph on the mechanisms of political corruption.
[Swartz's] alleged use of MIT facilities and Web connections to access the JSTOR database ... resulted in two state felony charges for breaking into a 'depository' and breaking & entering in the daytime, according to local prosecutors.
Indictment
was invoked but never defined (see the help page).SwartzAaronPR
was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
Cite error: There are <ref group=note>
tags on this page, but the references will not show without a {{reflist|group=note}}
template (see the help page).
© MMXXIII Rich X Search. We shall prevail. All rights reserved. Rich X Search