Why the Suicide of Aaron Swartz Matters to You

Why the Suicide of Aaron Swartz Matters to You


This is a bit off topic for this blog, but I think it's an important issue that deserves the space.

Aaron Swartz, you may recall, is a computer hacker/internet rights crusader who was prosecuted for allegedly stealing electronic documents from JSTOR, an online storage system for scientific papers.

Swartz made amends.  Having returned the documents he'd taken to JSTOR, that organization had no interest in taking action against him, nor did MIT, whose internet servers Swartz intercepted to do the deed.

Despite this lack of interest in the case by the wronged parties, the Federal government prosecuted anyway.  Swartz was charged with 13 felonies, faced over $4-million in fines, and was facing a 50-year prison term.

Rather than face prosecution, Swartz committed suicide on January 11, 2013.

That's the background story.  Simon Dumenco, writing in the January 21, 2013 issue of Advertising Age makes a great case for why Swartz's needless overprosecution affects you, me, and everyone.  Please follow this link to the AdAge site to read it:

          Simon Dumenco's Editorial on Aaron Swartz's Suicide


Remember:  The parties he supposedly wronged had no interest in his prosecution.