

Public.resource.org's touching tribute to Aaron Swartz - riordan
https://public.resource.org/aaron/

======
Permit
Are they trying to imply that the non-profit organization JSTOR is comparable
in any way to "tyrants and profiteers"?

JSTOR is a non-profit organization that allows digital access to articles that
were previously inaccessible to anyone regardless of your will to pay. They
allow full-text search across their millions of articles and are undoubtedly
employing a number of programmers and designers.

They've just recently started doing the same with books, a process that is
undoubtedly costly.

Is it so wild and crazy to expect that they be able to cover operating costs?
If no one purchased articles from them, they'd never be able to continue
scanning and processing new ones and have branched into books.

Over the last year, JSTOR has tried to slowly provide more free access to
individuals. Alumni are soon going to be able to access their articles for
free. Registered researches as well. And any individual can access three free
articles every two weeks.

Websites such as this say to me: "How dare JSTOR have the audacity to attempt
to fund their continued operations?"

Finally, let me point out that I do not think Aaron Schwartz should have been
antagonized and potentially sentenced to 50 years. That kind of sentence is
absolutely ridiculous.

~~~
ghshephard
JSTOR declined to proceed forward with criminal action, so most articles I've
read about this episode hold them relatively blameless for what the government
did to Aaron Schwartz. MIT, and the Prosecutor, on the other hand, do not come
out as cleanly. If the "Tyrant" label were to be assigned, it doesn't lack for
candidates.

------
mattdeboard
For anyone else wondering what a "frank" is in this context,
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Franked_mail>

