Reddit Founder Aaron Swartz found dead.

My name is URL

Aaron Swartz, a celebrated computer activist and builder of the popular internet community website Reddit, has died. It is believed that the 26-year-old killed himself in New York City on Friday.

A committed advocate for the freedom of information over the internet, Swartz had been facing a trial over allegations of hacking related to the downloading of millions of documents from the online research group JSTOR. Swartz pleaded not guilty last year; if convicted, he could have faced a lengthy prison term.

The MIT university newspaper The Tech received an email from Swartz's lawyer, Elliot R Peters, which confirmed the news. The newspaper reported the email as saying: "The tragic and heartbreaking information you received is, regrettably, true."

Swartz dedicated much of his time to fighting internet censorship and his court case had become a cause célèbre for many similar-minded figures. A social-justice lawyer, Bettina Neuefeind, had established a website to raise money for his defence.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2013/jan/12/aaron-swartz-hacking-reddit-dies

Very sad news.. he was one of the most vocal defenders of the internet at a time when attacking it has become almost fashionable. The web will be a poorer place with his passing. RIP

admiralofthefleet

he just couldnt stop dancing

DEFTLEFTHAND

That's tragic a 26 year old guy who I presume was relativity wealthy. People have fierce problems in life which they often won't disclose, it's such a shame because there's always a solution to things no matter how black it seems.

matchthis

26 wow *tips hat in respect*

My name is URL

He faced upwards of 50 years in prison if found guilty for the hacking and theft he was allegedly involved in.

http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20120917/17393320412/us-government-ups-felony-count-jstoraaron-swartz-case-four-to-thirteen.shtml

JSTOR didn't even want to press charges against him. It was the Federal Government that decided to do so.

One of his main supporters (a Harvard law professor) has blamed the actions of prosecutors for driving him to suicide.

http://lessig.tumblr.com/post/40347463044/prosecutor-as-bully

Hippies!

DEFTLEFTHAND wrote: »

People have fierce problems in life which they often won't disclose, it's such a shame because there's always a solution to things no matter how black it seems.

Eh he was probably going to jail for a very long time...what's the solution?

Holsten

Wow.. sad.

***** who went after him are the cause of this in my view.

Birneybau

Boughtit

keith16

My name is URL wrote: »

He faced upwards of 50 years in prison if found guilty for the hacking and theft he was allegedly involved in.

http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20120917/17393320412/us-government-ups-felony-count-jstoraaron-swartz-case-four-to-thirteen.shtml

JSTOR didn't even want to press charges against him. It was the Federal Government that decided to do so.

One of his main supporters (a Harvard law professor) has blamed the actions of prosecutors for driving him to suicide.

http://lessig.tumblr.com/post/40347463044/prosecutor-as-bully

Jesus....a casualty of governments war for control of the internet?

Higher

Hippies! wrote: »

Eh he was probably going to jail for a very long time...what's the solution?

I'd do the same. I mean jail in Ireland is going to be tough but in America you're almost certain to get raped regularly unless you're well able to handle yourself. Who wants that? The federal prisons over there are just brutal.

Fox_In_Socks

A committed advocate for the freedom of information over the internet, Swartz had been facing a trial over allegations of hacking related to the downloading of millions of documents from the online research group JSTOR. Swartz pleaded not guilty last year; if convicted, he could have faced a lengthy prison term.

Was it him personally that is supposed to have hacked/downloaded the documents or users/contributors to something he created but had responsibility for?

Lightbulb Sun

Higher wrote: »

I'd do the same. I mean jail in Ireland is going to be tough but in America you're almost certain to get raped regularly unless you're well able to handle yourself. Who wants that? The federal prisons over there are just brutal.

Would they have put a millionaire like him in a rough, gang tension type prison though?

squod

Sad news.

Zillah

Higher wrote: »

I'd do the same. I mean jail in Ireland is going to be tough but in America you're almost certain to get raped regularly unless you're well able to handle yourself. Who wants that? The federal prisons over there are just brutal.

The Federal prisons tend to be the better ones. It is the State prisons that are hell on Earth.

Fox_In_Socks wrote: »

Was it him personally that is supposed to have hacked/downloaded the documents or users/contributors to something he created but had responsibility for?

Oh it was him. He plugged a laptop into their network when no one was looking. Stupid thing to do alright, but trying to send him to prison for 50 years? Disgusting. Did the DA have no sense of proportionality?

Fox_In_Socks

Zillah wrote: »

The Federal prisons tend to be the better ones. It is the State prisons that are hell on Earth.



Oh it was him. He plugged a laptop into their network when no one was looking. Stupid thing to do alright, but trying to send him to prison for 50 years? Disgusting. Did the DA have no sense of proportionality?

What would be your idea of punishment for doing something like this?

token101

Zillah wrote: »

Oh it was him. He plugged a laptop into their network when no one was looking. Stupid thing to do alright, but trying to send him to prison for 50 years? Disgusting. Did the DA have no sense of proportionality?

I doubt he would have got 50 years or anything even approaching it. I'd be surprised if he got more than 2 or 3.

My name is URL

token101 wrote: »

I doubt he would have got 50 years or anything even approaching it. I'd be surprised if he got more than 2 or 3.

Federal prosecutors were seeking to have him convicted on 13-14 felony counts.

Zillah

Fox_In_Socks wrote: »

What would be your idea of punishment for doing something like this?

I am not qualified to give an informed opinion. But considering that he had no intention of trying to sell the articles, that JSTOR themselves wanted the case dropped, and that he caused no damage when he took them, a year or two, with a hefty fine, sounds reasonable to me.

token101 wrote: »

I doubt he would have got 50 years or anything even approaching it. I'd be surprised if he got more than 2 or 3.

What are you basing that on? I don't know what he would have gotten, but the charges allowed for the possibility of 50 years. The prosecutor was quite sanguine about the whole thing.

dd972

Sad to hear of this young man's demise, it's interesting how being in this type of scenario can be the making of some like Assange and the breaking of others.

I'd have like to have seen him stick it out, he'd have had friends and supporters regardless of what the Feds might try and throw at him.

RIP

nervous_twitch

Can someone clarify why, when hundreds of thousands of students across the world have free access to JSTOR, it was considered such a breach? It was published research, hardly classified information? Is it just the piracy aspect?

DEFTLEFTHAND

Hippies! wrote: »

Eh he was probably going to jail for a very long time...what's the solution?

But why not fight and stay alive? You can get through a lot in life if you persevere, he was 26 for god's sake. I know I can't put myself in his shoes but I found it very sad that the only solution he could see was dying.

My name is URL

nervous_twitch wrote: »

Can someone clarify why, when hundreds of thousands of students across the world have free access to JSTOR, it was considered such a breach? It was published research, hardly classified information? Is it just the piracy aspect?

He illegally accessed a protected computer to do so, though. That's why the feds got involved. They charged him with wire and computer fraud amongst other stuff.

Fox_In_Socks

nervous_twitch wrote: »

Can someone clarify why, when hundreds of thousands of students across the world have free access to JSTOR, it was considered such a breach? It was published research, hardly classified information? Is it just the piracy aspect?

I think you have to subscribe to it which means that the data/research is controlled by JSTOR.

If you're hacking into source material/downloading/transferring it to another outlet, would that mean that research could be edited, or falsified?

orestes

DEFTLEFTHAND wrote: »

That's tragic a 26 year old guy who I presume was relativity wealthy. People have fierce problems in life which they often won't disclose, it's such a shame because there's always a solution to things no matter how black it seems.

DEFTLEFTHAND wrote: »

But why not fight and stay alive? You can get through a lot in life if you persevere, he was 26 for god's sake. I know I can't put myself in his shoes but I found it very sad that the only solution he could see was dying.

You're trying to rationalise the mind of somebody who is not thinking rationally. For some people there is no way out and no escape other than to put an end to it all. Tragic, I agree, and although not rational I think it's understandable.

In this case the guy was being bullied and prosecuted by the federal government, and that's a pretty fukking big bully. If he had lost (and he would have, the government would have made bloody sure of it) he was looking at spending the majority of his life in prison, at the hands of the people who put him there (unfairly, in a lot of peoples opinions). They were looking to take his life from him, and in the end they succeeded although not in the way they intended to.

My name is URL

Apparently he had problems with depression for a number of years. He talked about it on his blog in 2007

http://www.aaronsw.com/weblog/verysick

Napper Hawkins

Poor bastard

Da Shins Kelly

Wow. Sad news. A very bright guy indeed. Read he suffered badly from depression, so perhaps the prospect of decades in prison may have finally tipped him over the edge, but it sounds like he was in a dark place anyway. A terrible tragedy and shame.

May he RIP.

Micky Dolenz

Mod

Please don't make "jokes" about this.
It isn't remotely funny.

Chavways

DEFTLEFTHAND wrote: »

But why not fight and stay alive? You can get through a lot in life if you persevere, he was 26 for god's sake. I know I can't put myself in his shoes but I found it very sad that the only solution he could see was dying.

Just think about it for a second. He probably knew he was caught and he knew that the government were going to do everything in their power to put him away. He'd have been 76 by the time he got out of prison(if he even lived that long). He probably thought this was his only valid option.

Jacob T

Chavways wrote: »

Just think about it for a second. He probably knew he was caught and he knew that the government were going to do everything in their power to put him away. He'd have been 76 by the time he got out of prison(if he even lived that long). He probably thought this was his only valid option.

Forgive my ignorance on the topic but why would the feds try to make a scapegoat out of him (50 years etc) for stealing academic documents ?

Saw on another forum didn't "found" Reddit, maybe the OP should change thread title.

Lastly, sincere condolences to this mans family/friends.

orestes

Jacob T wrote: »

Forgive my ignorance on the topic but why would the feds try to make a scapegoat out of him (50 years etc) for stealing academic documents ?

Take down high-profile "cyber-terrorist", gives them a carte blanche to take down anyone else who messes with their attempts to control the internet while scaring the hell out of anyone else who would even try. Think Hussein and Guantanamo Bay for tech-nerds. A stretched analogy, but I think it covers the general idea.

Ando's Saggy Bottom

Very sad to hear this.

Not sure why anyone would blame the people prosecuting him for this though. He broke the law and was being made to face the consequences for it. If he killed himdelf then no one is to blame, its just a horrible situation all round.

orestes

Pete Campbell wrote: »

Very sad to hear this.

Not sure why anyone would blame the people prosecuting him for this though. He broke the law and was being made to face the consequences for it. If he killed himdelf then no one is to blame, its just a horrible situation all round.

I agree that if you break the law you should be prosecuted, the problem here is that the prosecution was apparently grossly disproportionate to the crime committed. The consequences he was facing were akin to being charged with bank robbery for stealing a loaf of bread. The agency he stole the files from didn't even press charges, the feds did, and then upped them.

Jacob T

Pete Campbell wrote: »

Very sad to hear this.

Not sure why anyone would blame the people prosecuting him for this though. He broke the law and was being made to face the consequences for it. If he killed himdelf then no one is to blame, its just a horrible situation all round.

Probably a number of factors in play, as is usually the case when suicide is involved. But to be honest if I was facing 35-50 years jail time, suicide would definitely be on my mind. This guy wouldn't have been the average hardened criminal in those fed/state prisons who easily adapt to being locked up, he was a computer nerd and wouldn't have lasted a week in jail.

Allyall

What age was he when he supposedly did that?

If he was 17 or 18 you would imagine they'd have gone easy on him, maybe even acknowledged they were partially to blame if he did it so easily.

It does make you wonder why governments exist.

Is Run_to_Da_Hills gone forever?

Governments were set up supposedly to protect us, now they are just insane machines protecting the Companies/people with power instead of the average person. 'Tis a wee bit F**ked up.

Dunny

Awful news.

Yakult

Sad that he thought this was the only solution. Obviously a very bright mind that will be missed by many people.

Pete Campbell

Pete Campbell wrote: »

Very sad to hear this.

Not sure why anyone would blame the people prosecuting him for this though. He broke the law and was being made to face the consequences for it. If he killed himself then no one is to blame, its just a horrible situation all round.

Sad to base your morals on society's laws and defend sentences because the legal maximum must be absolutely fine and proportionate. Anything approaching 50 years should only be given to crimes where another person is grievously affected. A digital theft of academic material is not that.

Jacob T

Ads by Google wrote: »

Sad to base youth morals on society's laws and defend sentences because the legal maximum must be absolutely fine and proportionate. Anything approaching 50 years should only be given to crimes where another person is grievously affected. A digital theft of academic material is not that.

Agreed, I usually hate conspiracy theories but think there was definitely something going on behind the scenes in that case, it's as clear as day that somethings not right about the whole situation.

Allyall

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aaron_Swartz

He was found dead in his Brooklyn apartment on January 11, 2013. A spokeswoman for New York's Medical Examiner reported that he had hanged himself.[33][34]
At the time of his death, Swartz, if convicted, faced a maximum of $4 million in fines and more than 50 years in prison after the government increased the number of felony counts against him from 4 to 13.[35][36]
The family and partner of Swartz created a memorial website on which they issued a statement, saying "He used his prodigious skills as a programmer and technologist not to enrich himself but to make the Internet and the world a fairer, better place."[37] Swartz was eulogized by his friend and sometime attorney, Lawrence Lessig, calling his prosecution an abuse of proportionality and noting, ‘the question this government needs to answer is why it was so necessary that Aaron Swartz be labeled a “felon.”’[38]

Lone Stone

thats so sad

Jacob T

Swartz also co-founded Demand Progress, an advocacy group that rallies people "to take action on the news that affects them — by contacting Congress and other leaders, funding pressure tactics, and spreading the word in their own communities."

.

leggo

It's obviously horrible news, but I also think we have to beware about making Swartz a martyr for the whole 'free speech' movement. Ultimately, he broke the law, was caught and was being charged. That's not a heroic act and shouldn't be portrayed as such, in spite of his other positive contributions to society and the fact he's not a typical, scumbag criminal.

There are obviously many mitigating circumstances to be discussed here (the possible harshness of the charges, why the government is taking such heavy steps against him, things that could have gone on in the background). But I think a bit of perspective is also wise and we don't immediately jump to the standard line that someone is a hero just because they're now dead. It's a complicated situation and there are two sides to every story...so balance would be required in this instance.

DEFTLEFTHAND

Chavways wrote: »

Just think about it for a second. He probably knew he was caught and he knew that the government were going to do everything in their power to put him away. He'd have been 76 by the time he got out of prison(if he even lived that long). He probably thought this was his only valid option.

If they put him away though. You should always stand your trial and fight the charges. Even if convicted you can still appeal. Don't get me wrong I know that a man can only take so much, and it's his right to make his decision. It takes balls to string up a rope and end it.

orestes

DEFTLEFTHAND wrote: »

If they put him away though. You should always stand your trial and fight the charges. Even if convicted you can still appeal. Don't get me wrong I know that a man can only take so much, and it's his right to make his decision. It takes balls to string up a rope and end it.

I'm not trying to sound like a smart-ass, but I don't think you understand the nature of suicide very well. In Ireland alone around 500 people commit suicide every year, each one for their own reasons.

Yes, it's tragic that it happens, same as in this case, but like I said earlier in the thread you are trying to apply logic to the actions of somebody who wan't thinking logically.

DEFTLEFTHAND

orestes wrote: »

I'm not trying to sound like a smart-ass, but I don't think you understand the nature of suicide very well. In Ireland alone around 500 people commit suicide every year, each one for their own reasons.

Yes, it's tragic that it happens, same as in this case, but like I said earlier in the thread you are trying to apply logic to the actions of somebody who wan't thinking logically.

I think I do understand quite well, I attempted to hang myself on January 6th 2006 on a swing we had at our home, the rope disconnected after I passed out and I woke up in the company of my parents in Nenagh Hospital. I've been diagnosed with depression and have been feed lexipro and prozac, I know what wanting to die feels like.

Dr Turk Turkelton

Zillah wrote: »

The Federal prisons tend to be the better ones. It is the State prisons that are hell on Earth.



Oh it was him. He plugged a laptop into their network when no one was looking. Stupid thing to do alright, but trying to send him to prison for 50 years? Disgusting. Did the DA have no sense of proportionality?

This is lol 'Merica your asking this question of?

I only read on Friday about a 22 year old scholarship student in Washington who held up a home poker game.

He got 60 years with a possibility of parole after 30.

I know we are too lenient in our sentencing here but come on.10 years would have been enough in this instance imo.

The land of the free-my @rse.

someuser905

he committed such a stupid crime, stealing science documents... which later became public :rolleyes:

Amirani

The "justice" system in the U.S. is archaic and completely messed up.

shanec1928

DEFTLEFTHAND wrote: »

If they put him away though. You should always stand your trial and fight the charges. Even if convicted you can still appeal. Don't get me wrong I know that a man can only take so much, and it's his right to make his decision. It takes balls to string up a rope and end it.

where could he have appealed it too though? the charges were coming from the feds.

lightspeed

Cuchulainn1. wrote: »

This is lol 'Merica your asking this question of?

I only read on Friday about a 22 year old scholarship student in Washington who held up a home poker game.

He got 60 years with a possibility of parole after 30.

I know we are too lenient in our sentencing here but come on.10 years would have been enough in this instance imo.

The land of the free-my @rse.

http://www.gambling911.com/poker/college-student-gets-60-years-prison-robbing-poker-game-011013.html

Is the above case the one you are referring beacause if so the guy was convicted of robbing 9 people at a poker game at gunpoint and there was violence used, he apparenly pistol whipped some people.

60 years though might be a bit steep all the same though. It seems that america is becoming more like Dubai.