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01-13-2013, 12:32 AM
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#1 | | I only answer to my username, my real name is Irrelevant!
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| Aaron Swartz (rss, reddit) Dead
So i didn't know who this guy was until I read this article and was surprised by it so thought id make a thread :P Quote: Aaron Swartz, internet freedom activist, dies aged 26
Aaron Swartz, a celebrated internet freedom activist and early developer of the website Reddit, has died at 26.
The activist and programmer took his life in his New York apartment, a relative and the state medical examiner said. His body was found on Friday.
Mr Swartz began computer programming as a child, and at 14 co-authored an early version of the RSS specification.
He later became an advocate of internet freedom, and was facing hacking charges at the time of his death.
He was among the founders of the Demand Progress campaign group, which lobbies against internet censorship.
The hacking charges relate to the downloading of millions of academic papers from online archive JSTOR, which prosecutors say he intended to distribute for free.
He denied charges of computer fraud at an initial hearing last year, but his federal trial was due to begin next month.
Mr Swartz's lawyer Elliot R. Peters confirmed the news of his client's death in an email to the MIT university newspaper The Tech.
"The tragic and heartbreaking information you received is, regrettably, true," he wrote.
A spokeswoman for New York's medical examiner later confirmed to Associated Press news agency that Mr Swartz had hanged himself.
In a statement later on Saturday, Mr Swartz's family praised his "brilliance" and "profound" commitment to social justice and also expressed bitterness toward the prosecutors pursuing the case against him.
"Aaron's death is not simply a personal tragedy. It is the product of a criminal justice system rife with intimidation and prosecutorial overreach," the statement said.
Sir Tim Berners-Lee - the British inventor of the world wide web - commemorated Mr Swartz in a Twitter post: "Aaron dead. World wanderers, we have lost a wise elder. Hackers for right, we are one down. Parents all, we have lost a child. Let us weep."
| BBC News - Aaron Swartz, internet freedom activist, dies aged 26
Oh i recognize him from this picture when he was a kid 
what he looked like, older  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aaron_Swartz | 
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01-13-2013, 10:23 AM
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#2 | | My homepage has been set to RS
Join Date: Dec 2008 Location: Vancouver
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rip
wow had no idea the founder of two well known technologies had such an interesting backstory either
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01-13-2013, 10:29 AM
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#3 | | In RS I Trust
Join Date: Mar 2003 Location: Mission
Posts: 20,633
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What a bitch move to kill your self and not face what you supposedly believe in.
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01-13-2013, 10:33 AM
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#4 | | .
Join Date: Nov 2009
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| Quote:
Originally Posted by murd0c  What a bitch move to kill your self and not face what you supposedly believe in. | Iunno man...when you're facing up to 50 years in prison and $4 million in fines looming over your head.... Aaron Swartz, Coder and Activist, Dead at 26 | Threat Level | Wired.com | |
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01-13-2013, 10:44 AM
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#5 | | resident Oil Guru
Join Date: Mar 2005 Location: Vancouver
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Life sentence for a nonviolent crime is just fucked up.
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01-13-2013, 10:48 AM
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#6 | | In RS I Trust
Join Date: Mar 2003 Location: Mission
Posts: 20,633
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| Quote:
Originally Posted by jeedee | You fight what you believe in and make your views known. Whats the point of view of the freedom of the internet known. You don't give up and kill yourself you need to fight and it's sad no question he didn't have it in him to fight it like he should of
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01-13-2013, 12:05 PM
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#7 | | Banned By Establishment
Join Date: Apr 2001 Location: Vancouver
Posts: 5,378
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| Quote:
Originally Posted by murd0c You fight what you believe in and make your views known. Whats the point of view of the freedom of the internet known. You don't give up and kill yourself you need to fight and it's sad no question he didn't have it in him to fight it like he should of |
We'll never know what was going on in his life.
It doesn't matter if he's some enigmatic freedom fighter, if he was getting no pussy, socially isolated, facing jail and poverty, and on a major down, shit can turn south with depression real fast.
People prone to depression need to develop coping skills, and no matter how much weed I smoke and how much Lil Wayne I dance to, I don't know if I could cheer myself up if I was facing 50 years in jail and like $8m in fines or whatever.
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01-13-2013, 12:36 PM
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#8 | | WOAH! i think Vtec just kicked in!
Join Date: Nov 2004 Location: Bangkok
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Could have been staged to look like a suicide. N.W.O.
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01-13-2013, 12:45 PM
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#9 | | ...in the world.
Join Date: Oct 2001 Location: Richmond
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One of the true geniuses of our generation but he'll never get that sort of recognition because he never wanted to be rich and so never made anything to make money...just did shit to better the Internet.
Shows how much those in power understand today's world when a guy like that faces a heavy prison sentence but bankers couldn't possibly go to jail and for some reason Lindsay Lohan is still free.
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01-13-2013, 02:12 PM
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#10 | | I contribute to threads in the offtopic forum
Join Date: Jun 2006 Location: not vancouver
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Maybe he had other problems...
What a loss for the world, where the retards continue to live but the geniuses die
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01-13-2013, 06:51 PM
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#11 | | I only answer to my username, my real name is Irrelevant!
Join Date: Oct 2002 Location: CELICAland
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im surprised Conde Nest fired him right after buying reddit though that explains why he got a chill farewell in reddit too i suppose interview with him 5yrs ago pretty neat A Chat with Aaron Swartz
and in regards to JSTOR im surprised the govt. went after him even though JSTOR dropped their charges/case against him; probably because he's credited for spearheading the movement that stopped SOPA
anyway what a waste
Last edited by StylinRed; 01-13-2013 at 06:56 PM.
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01-13-2013, 07:28 PM
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#12 | | Hacked RS to become a mod
Join Date: Feb 2002 Location: Sunny Hong Kong
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| Quote:
Originally Posted by murd0c You fight what you believe in and make your views known. Whats the point of view of the freedom of the internet known. You don't give up and kill yourself you need to fight and it's sad no question he didn't have it in him to fight it like he should of | Or you kill yourself, becoming something of a martyr. I knew he was a founder of Reddit but that was it. Yet he killed himself, and now has a post on RS which means he has posts on forums all over the place.
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01-13-2013, 07:45 PM
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#13 | | I bringith the lowerballerith
Join Date: Nov 2005 Location: vancouver
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"Happiness in intelligent people is the rarest thing I know." - Ernest Hemingway
RIP
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01-13-2013, 07:57 PM
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#14 | | What hasn't Killed me, has made me more tolerant of RS!
Join Date: Dec 2011 Location: Vancity
Posts: 196
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Rip
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01-13-2013, 08:05 PM
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#15 | | I don't get it
Join Date: Jan 2004 Location: Vancouver
Posts: 415
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rip
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'Someone once said; To air is human, to forgive is divine."
Snoop Dogg - Starksy & Hutch
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01-13-2013, 08:10 PM
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#16 | | Banned By Establishment
Join Date: Dec 2003 Location: New West
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I was not disappointed that I did not have to go to page 2 before someone mentioned possible conspiracy theories regarding his death.
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01-13-2013, 08:11 PM
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#17 | | Everyone wants a piece of R S...
Join Date: Oct 2012 Location: vancouver
Posts: 375
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Very sad indeed RIP
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01-13-2013, 10:08 PM
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#18 | | My homepage has been set to RS
Join Date: Dec 2008 Location: Vancouver
Posts: 2,308
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| Quote:
Originally Posted by SkinnyPupp Or you kill yourself, becoming something of a martyr. I knew he was a founder of Reddit but that was it. Yet he killed himself, and now has a post on RS which means he has posts on forums all over the place. | i was gonna say this. I don't believe he did it for this reason, but either way, the issue and what was going on with him is probably now known by 10x more people than it otherwise would've been, including myself. Seemed like a hardcore activist so his death at least raised crazy awareness for what he believed in
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01-13-2013, 10:26 PM
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#19 | | My name is PJ and I like dogs.
Join Date: Aug 2010 Location: Vancity/Toronto
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Originally Posted by LiquidTurbo Life sentence for a nonviolent crime is just fucked up. | I have to agree completely with this.
Assault is what, only 5-10 years?
And this guy got 30+ years for pulling some files?
The only thing I can think of is that they were threatened by his power to give him any less..
__________________ Studies show 100% of people die.. Might as well have some fun.
Hello my name is PJ. Buy/Sell Feedback 1-0-0 | |
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01-13-2013, 11:58 PM
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#20 | | Performance Moderator
Join Date: Jun 2001 Location: Richmond
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| Quote:
Originally Posted by murd0c What a bitch move to kill your self and not face what you supposedly believe in. | I understand the kneejerk reaction, but if you read more into it you'd know that he's spent years (since 2007) battling depression with medications... he wasn't a happy guy and definitely had some serious problems. Depression is pretty powerful on its own let alone the other stuff hanging over his head, don't bitch someone out unless you've experienced it.
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01-14-2013, 12:18 AM
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#21 | | '
Join Date: Apr 2010 Location: Vancouver
Posts: 4,663
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Rip. I'm a daily user of RSS feeds and Reddit
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01-19-2013, 12:46 AM
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#22 | | I only answer to my username, my real name is Irrelevant!
Join Date: Oct 2002 Location: CELICAland
Posts: 25,650
Thanked 10,381 Times in 3,907 Posts
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theverge has been doing a lot of stories on Aaron Swartz
and the latest one says that Swartz was a wikileaker and his legal troubles had the secret service behind it Wikileaks claims Aaron Swartz was an ally and possible source, breaking anonymity | The Verge
interesting if you've got nothing to do tonight  | |
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