
Aaron Swartz commits suicide - bfaviero
http://tech.mit.edu/V132/N61/swartz.html
======
jacquesm
Man this so sucks.

If you hit someone with enough felony counts sooner or later something can
snap. This in response to those that claim the DOJ didn't have anything to do
with Aaron killing himself.

For some people the mere fact of being suspected of a crime they didn't commit
is enough to push them over the edge. When you're placed in a holding cell the
police will remove your laces from your boots so you don't hang yourself,
that's how heavy being imprisoned can weigh on some.

Aaron did something that he thought was right, that he truly believed in and
that upset a large number of applecarts and that had far reaching
implications, had the proverbial book thrown at him and then some. The
prospect of significant amounts of jail time (35 years for downloading
scientific papers, it shouldn't even _be_ a crime) and/or a felony record must
have weighed very heavy on him.

For a person that is of a very stable mental make-up that would already be
extreme pressure.

For someone with a mental issue it may very well be all it takes.

Aaron was inspiring to me, I think that no copyrighted piece of paper is worth
a human life and that the DOJ, even if they are not directly responsible at
least indirectly carry some of the responsibility here for beating down
someone who was fighting for an extremely good cause in a somewhat haphazard
way. The letter of the law _and_ the spirit of the law should both be taken
into account.

I hope those that had a hand in Aarons' continued prosecution will sleep
miserably for a long time to come. Likely it won't weigh on their
consciousness at all.

~~~
wheels
It really rubs me the wrong way when something like this happens and folks
jump to conclusions as you have here. You didn't know this person. For all we
know he could have not given two shits about the whole legal process and this
is linked to family or relationship problems or long term general depression.

~~~
jacquesm
> You didn't know this person.

That's an assumption on your part.

And this was in response to people jumping to completely different
conclusions, for instance that these things are not related at all. I wouldn't
be so quick to make that call.

Maybe you feel like arguing this line with his mom? :
<http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=5047398>

~~~
larrys
"Maybe you feel like arguing this line with his mom?"

How do you know the person who setup that account and posted that is actually
his mom?

~~~
jacquesm
I don't. How do you know she isn't? Until I have evidence to the contrary I
tend to believe what people say.

~~~
larrys
"How do you know she isn't?"

I questioned what you said I didn't (when I asked you) state that the poster
wasn't his mother. I don't know that she is or isn't.

That said I will now say that I feel that it's _highly_ unlikely that a mother
who has lost her son to suicide is going to open up a HN account [1] and post
something when a loss like this happens.

Of course if a HN admin has access to IP addresses or where and how the
account was setup or some other non public information that's something else.

[1] Adding: so quickly after the loss

~~~
jacquesm
I hope you can restrain yourself and that you won't be asking for their
passports and birth certificates:

[http://rememberaaronsw.tumblr.com/post/40372208044/official-...](http://rememberaaronsw.tumblr.com/post/40372208044/official-
statement-from-the-family-and-partner-of-aaron)

------
tricolon
I never met Aaron Swartz but always wanted to. His work has had a profound
impact on my life.

His blog was thought-provoking. <http://www.aaronsw.com/weblog/>

His work on the RSS 1.0 Specification enabled richer, more efficient
information consumption. <http://web.resource.org/rss/1.0/spec>

His work on Markdown enabled intuitive, unobtrusive formatting and structuring
of information in plaintext and conversion to HTML.
[http://daringfireball.net/projects/markdown/#acknowledgement...](http://daringfireball.net/projects/markdown/#acknowledgements)

His work on reddit enabled thousands—now millions—to share online information
in a social manner. <http://www.aaronsw.com/weblog/rewritingreddit>

His work on the web.py framework gave countless Python programmers a head-
start on serving information through web applications. <http://webpy.org/>

His work with DemandProgress gave Americans a political voice to protect and
win back their freedom and the freedom of information.
<http://blog.demandprogress.org/people>

His work with Creative Commons promoted the freedom of information and fair
use and helped inform content creators of options other than copyright.
<http://creativecommons.org/>

Thank you, Aaron Swartz, for all the above and all the other activism and
works (<https://github.com/aaronsw>) I haven't mentioned here. You'll be
missed and remembered by many.

.

~~~
DustinBoyer
Aaron was an old friend of mine, I really appreciate you making this.

------
antics
Better eulogies will follow, to be sure, but in the mean time, much of what
can be said about him is captured in a touching talk he gave called "How to
Get a Job Like Mine" [1]. What I think is especially touching about this is
how he gently deconstructs his success, demystifying his own legend by pulling
back the curtain on what would have otherwise appeared to be a string of
miraculous accomplishments. In the process, he reveals himself to be a
sensitive, seemingly grateful, and thoughtful person.

May he be remembered well; he seems to deserve it.

[1] <https://aaronsw.jottit.com/howtoget>

~~~
nanook
> he reveals himself to be a sensitive, seemingly grateful, and thoughtful
> person.

Definitely. He wrote a bunch of blogposts last year on improving life, called
"Raw Nerve": <http://www.aaronsw.com/weblog/rawnerve>

Wonderful writing.

~~~
mailshanx
This. I first saw a raw_nerve post here on HN, and that's how i got to know of
Aaron. Such writing requires an ability for introspection, among many other
things. I find it hard to contemplate how someone with such a mind could
possibly commit suicide. Sad day, indeed :(.

------
paraschopra
It's easy to deride suicide but fact of the matter is that it is the final but
a very powerful option we have at our disposal. Instead of saying that a
particular person should not have committed suicide, our hope should be that
if a suicide happens, it is well thought through and is not done in haste. If
a particular person decides that decades of painful life is much worse than
simply ending the existence, who are we to question such a personal decision?

Of course, if everything was alright, I would have loved to see Aaron existing
in this world for many more years and do wonderful things but not knowing what
led him to this step and how he judged the current/future life for himself.
Simply commenting that he should not have committed suicide is being
insensitive to a person who has already done so much great work for humanity.

Life is not _always_ better than no life. Context matters. A lot.

~~~
jacques_chester
Context certainly matters.

Depressed people are not perfectly rational agents. By the time you are
contemplating suicide, it's not even close.

And depression is a factor in almost every suicide.

Depression is insidious because it makes all the alternatives to suicide seem
much more difficult than they actually are.

~~~
hackinthebochs
> By the time you are contemplating suicide, it's not even close.

This is classic begging the question. One could easily say someone who claims
suicide is never a rational option is the altered one. It must be seriously
condescending for those trying to help someone contemplating suicide to offer
such plainly specious arguments against it, especially if that person is the
contemplative type. It likely does more harm than good.

~~~
ahoyhere
No, if you want to be logical, it's clear that suicide is rarely the right
choice, and that it's the suicidal person whose critical thinking abilities
are impaired.

It's simple: Most people who feel suicidal are feeling suicidal because of/in
conditions which are shared by hundreds, thousands, millions of other people.
All you have to do, as a rational actor, to decide if suicide makes sense, is
to look at what those other people are making of the same situation. In the
case of being prosecuted for white collar crimes, most people go on to take
their lumps (deserved or not), then go back to their families and a perfectly
reasonable existence. There is life afterwards, plenty of it. In some cases,
like fraud and hacking etc., quite a few folks turn their experience on the
wrong side of the law into valuable consulting gigs. Humans have been
evolutionarily selected for resilience.

And, on the flip side, if we're talking interminable physical pain or a fatal
disease which is incurable & will only lead to worse and worse deterioration
and an unbearably slow death, you can use the same approach to see that
suicide may make sense in that situation, to avoid an inescapable fate that
all those other people in the same situation are _definitely_ and _verifiably_
experiencing.

The thing about suicidal depression is it cuts off your ability to think like
this. You cannot even IMAGINE a world where things get better, where there's
an "After." You feel utterly alone… often because you cut yourself off from
people who love you & would help you. You think your pains are so special and
unique, nobody could understand, and you may even get angry when people try to
help you because they can't possibly "get it". You think they're against you.
You imagine how much your death will hurt the parties trying to persecute you
(real or imagined). Maybe you even think "I'll show them!" or that you will
make a good martyr. All of which is nonsense, even though it's very persuasive
nonsense… when you're in a suicidal depression.

That's why suicidal depression is clearly, logically, and provably the
impairment.

This is why, if you're even remotely contemplating suicide, you should ALWAYS,
ALWAYS reach out and seek help. Because if you make a permanent decision, you
will have been working off false information. As one of my favorite authors
says, "DEPRESSION LIES."

In most cases, suicide is literally stupid. And such a damn shame.

~~~
Andrew_Quentin
What if he wanted to become a martyr for this particular cause would it then
be stupid?

------
Claudus
Here's the JSTOR Statement related to the downloading incident:
[http://about.jstor.org/news/jstor-statement-misuse-
incident-...](http://about.jstor.org/news/jstor-statement-misuse-incident-and-
criminal-case)

 _What Happened

Last fall and winter, JSTOR experienced a significant misuse of our database.
A substantial portion of our publisher partners’ content was downloaded in an
unauthorized fashion using the network at the Massachusetts Institute of
Technology, one of our participating institutions. The content taken was
systematically downloaded using an approach designed to avoid detection by our
monitoring systems.

The downloaded content included more than 4 million articles, book reviews,
and other content from our publisher partners' academic journals and other
publications; it did not include any personally identifying information about
JSTOR users.

We stopped this downloading activity, and the individual responsible, Mr.
Swartz, was identified. We secured from Mr. Swartz the content that was taken,
and received confirmation that the content was not and would not be used,
copied, transferred, or distributed.

The criminal investigation and today’s indictment of Mr. Swartz has been
directed by the United States Attorney’s Office. It was the government’s
decision whether to prosecute, not JSTOR’s. As noted previously, our interest
was in securing the content. Once this was achieved, we had no interest in
this becoming an ongoing legal matter._

~~~
monsterix
Can we not know who exactly (their faces/names etc.) were the people working
in the "US Attorney Office" bent to indict him? It's easy for people to term
it was not JSTOR, it was the Attorney Office but ultimately these things
happen only because people forget how to treat other people properly.

~~~
philwelch
I'm not sure what you're getting at here. While I'll agree it was overzealous
to make a federal case out of this, you can't blame federal prosecutors for
doing their fucking jobs just because someone kills themselves. Many people
have survived federal prosecution without dying or killing themselves.

I'm shocked and horrified by this news too. It's awful that Aaron died. But
it's foolish to blame anybody but him for his actions in this.

~~~
petercooper
I mostly agree. But a potential 35 year prison sentence hanging over people
for a white collar crime is sure to send a percentage of them over the edge.

With a more realistic and efficient judicial system, people would be under a
lot less unnecessary stress and there'd be fewer straws to break the
proverbial camels' backs. Being threatened with 35 years in prison for what he
did is indicative of a sick judicial system.

~~~
rdl
I wouldn't even call it a 'white collar crime'. It was downloading some
scientific papers, which the site didn't really care about. White collar crime
is like Bernie Madoff.

~~~
petercooper
True, I didn't realize white collar crime had a financial motivation. So, it
was even less serious than that.

~~~
rdl
Well, white collar just means generally "conducted using computers, paper,
etc." vs. guns or sticks or fists. So defrauding people via the mail is white
collar, or ponzi schemes, etc. There is usually a financial component, but the
FBI 30k foot overview is "lying, cheating, or stealing". What aaronsw is
alleged to have done was a white collar activity (except that he did sneaky
wiring closet stuff), but not what people immediately think of as "white
collar crime".

I mostly don't believe what Aaron did was a crime at all. If it was wrong, it
was a civil tort against JSTOR or JSTOR's authors, who declined to give a shit
(and I suspect most authors in JSTOR would support him). If it was a crime, it
was a very minor crime -- not a 35 year federal felony.

I'm sad Aaron is gone, and angry he didn't fight this to the end. He probably
could have won, or at least ended up with a suspended sentence or something
like that, and this could have been a catalyst for reform of copyright laws
(if not general laws, the scientific-papers-created-with-government-funding
laws).

~~~
kamaal
Scariest part of about these things is, these are victimless crimes. Barely
anybody is harmed by them.

At the end its all about some prosecutor increasing his kill count.

~~~
rdl
There's probably some copyright/ip crime which does have victims, but it's
usually civil victims, and in this case, I don't think even that.

(If you hacked in or bribed an employee and a trade secret and started making
something in competition after someone spent 30 years researching, there's
probably a civil case there)

~~~
sseveran
That is actually also criminal.

------
beadmomsw
Thank you all for your kind words and thoughts. Aaron has been depressed about
his case/upcoming trial, but we had no idea what he was going through was this
painful.

Aaron was a terrific young man. He contributed a lot to the world in his short
life and I regret the loss of all the things he had yet to accomplish. As you
can imagine, we all miss him dearly. The grief is unfathomable.

Aaron's mother

~~~
hoterran
suck copyright, world miss a genius,rip.

~~~
eftakhairul
I'm so sorry for your loss. RIP Aron

------
bpdthrow
Aaron suffered from a brain disorder. He had documented periods of extreme
withdrawn depression and others of mild manic productivity.

Because of that brain disorder, perhaps because it was not attacked with the
requisite treatment, he is dead.

If you or a loved one are ever feeling suicidal, depressed, or are acting
abnormally erratic, contact an expert. It's nothing to be ashamed about. It's
just a lottery of genetic expression.

There are others going through the same thing. There are excellent treatments
available, and they get better each year. You might save someone's life.

<http://www.reddit.com/r/suicidewatch> <http://www.reddit.com/r/depression>
<http://www.reddit.com/r/bipolarreddit>

I find it bizarre how quickly our minds jump to impossibly unlikely reasons
when tragic events like this happen. Troubles with the justice department
don't alone cause a bright young man to kill himself.

> I was miserable. I couldn't stand San Francisco. I couldn't stand office
> life. I couldn't stand Wired. I took a long Christmas vacation. I got sick.
> I thought of suicide. I ran from the police. And when I got back on Monday
> morning, I was asked to resign.

> I followed these rules. And here I am today, with a dozen projects on my
> plate and my stress level through the roof once again.

<https://aaronsw.jottit.com/howtoget>

<http://www.aaronsw.com/weblog/dying>

> I have a lot of illnesses. I don’t talk about it much, for a variety of
> reasons. I feel ashamed to have an illness. (It sounds absurd, but there
> still is an enormous stigma around being sick.)

> Sadly, depression (like other mental illnesses, especially addiction) is not
> seen as “real” enough to deserve the investment and awareness of conditions
> like breast cancer (1 in 8) or AIDS (1 in 150). And there is, of course, the
> shame.

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

In his short life Aaron has produced a wonderful collection of writing, code,
and actions, which will all be available for years to come. He will be missed.
His effects have not yet ceased.

~~~
aneth4
Can you provide more information about which brain disorder?

~~~
dyno12345
It's a way of describing "depression" in a way that doesn't feel compatible
with blame.

~~~
wilfra
He was more accurately describing bipolar disorder, whether he realized it or
not.

Are you implying that depression or BPD is 'compatibile with blame'? If so,
that's absurd.

~~~
benesch
I think he meant that there's a stigma associated with depression—that many of
us unfortunately view depression as the "fault" of depressed individuals, as
if it were some sort of choice they make.

No one would ever blame you for a [genetic] heart disorder. In the same way,
no one would ever blame you for a [genetic] brain disorder. Phrasing it as
such removes some of the stigma.

~~~
jacques_chester
I used to use the analogy of type I diabetes, but now people are mixing it up
with type II.

I think that the way to beat the stigma is talk openly about it.

~~~
Pyrrhuloxia
> I think that the way to beat the stigma is talk openly about it.

Easier to say than to do. If you're depressed / bipolar / schizophrenic and
talk about it openly it can make people very uncomfortable, which can result
in their not wanting to be around you, which can result in further isolation
for you, which can make your situation worse.

~~~
jacques_chester
It can be. I've found that being very matter-of-fact about it works for me,
but I have a reasonably social personality.

------
alrs
Fuck this country.

EDIT: The guy was facing 13 felony counts for downloading academic articles.

~~~
wedtm
Context?

~~~
w1ntermute
He was being charged with the felony of downloading/distributing research done
using public funding so that it could be made freely available to the
taxpayers who funded it. JSTOR had no interest in prosecuting him, but the US
Attorney's Office decided to go ahead anyway.

~~~
optimiz3
This would be a perfect opportunity for a White House pardon.

~~~
tomjen3
Those are only available to the guilty.

~~~
jlgreco
Is that the case in the US? My impression is that Ford gave Nixon a blanket
pardon even though Nixon had not (yet, probably) been found guilty of
anything.

~~~
iso-8859-1
You are correct: <http://www.factcheck.org/2008/06/blanket-pardons/>

------
gfunk911
I've thought of suicide. Not "seriously," but it's crossed my mind. Sometimes
life just seems so hard.

My reaction to this is that he was a brilliant guy, and it was such a waste.
Such a pointless waste.

It makes the idea of giving up myself seem so wrong.

Rest in Peace Aaron. I'm sorry it had to end this way.

~~~
jacques_chester
> _I've thought of suicide. Not "seriously," but it's crossed my mind._

If it happens again, get help. I'm quite serious.

~~~
corporalagumbo
It's not your job to give this sort of advice to people here. It's not some
sort of mental disfigurement to think about these things you know. He and
everyone else has the right to explore and experience unhappiness. And anyway,
by fixating on a peripheral detail of his post you derail the conversation and
force him into a rather supplicatory posture. Not cool.

~~~
jacques_chester
There's a difference between unhappiness and depression.

~~~
corporalagumbo
Maybe there is, maybe there isn't. I fail to see the relevance. The real issue
here I would say is that you seem to have worked yourself up into a bit of a
soul-saving frenzy, but your efforts are misplaced and frankly not
appreciated. You seem not to realise that Hackernews is by and large a
community of smart, stable, motivated and successful people, rather than a
casualty ward for self-imploding depressives.

I would suggest you shift your efforts to a forum where people are actually
starkly discussing hopelessness and self-destruction, rather than just briefly
mentioning completely normal moments of weakness, and might even appreciate
your help. For example, <http://boards.4chan.org/r9k/>. Enjoy.

~~~
jacques_chester
> _The real issue here I would say is that you seem to have worked yourself up
> into a bit of a soul-saving frenzy,_

It's graceless of me. Oh noes, I might seem like a wanker who wants to help
people.

> _but your efforts are misplaced and frankly not appreciated._

By you.

> _I would suggest you shift your efforts to a forum where people are actually
> starkly discussing hopelessness and self-destruction, rather than just
> briefly mentioning completely normal moments of weakness, and might even
> appreciate your help._

Honestly?

I'm not strong enough to do that. I'm just not. Soul-saving frenzies are as
good as it gets for me.

~~~
corporalagumbo
You seem pretty upset. I think you should try and relax. Take a break from the
computer. Go get some fresh air. I'm sorry if I pushed your buttons but I do
think you are over-reacting. Nobody on Hackernews is going to hurt themselves
any time soon, okay?

~~~
lttlrck
Given the context of this discussion that's insensitive and very presumptive.
It's you that needs to step away from the computer.

------
jacques_chester
This is terrible news.

Depression is treatable. If you find that you are thinking about suicide, even
speculatively, seek help _immediately_.

You are not alone and it _will_ get better.

~~~
droithomme
There is a mental illness here and the mental illness is thinking that his
suicide is unrelated to the massive witch hunt against him by the US Federal
Government hellbent on his personal destruction at any cost.

Those who deny that that had anything to do with this, and it was only a
"brain disorder" or other such claptrap are truly insane.

I've had students who for years were systematically abused and tortured by
adults. This abuse caused them pain, distress, depression, and suicide
ideation, not a chemical imbalance. Despite this, counselors they saw
diagnosed them as having a chemical imbalance and pumped them full of pills
that have psychosis and suicide as known and documented side effects.

Who is insane in this situation? Who is responsible for the damage it causes
when a young person is targeted for destruction by sociopaths and it causes
them to crack? A chemical imbalance? Not the things that are being done to
them by others intentionally trying to harm them?

This attitude justifies the abuse of people. This attitude leads to suicide.
This attitude needs to stop.

~~~
jacques_chester
None of these strawmen remotely resemble anything I've said.

~~~
pretoriusB
Seems like they do, though, because you only mentioned "depression" and how
"it's treatable", in describing this particular case, and not one line about
his prosecution.

Many a totally non-depressed people have committed suicide under prosecution.
Heck, many non-depressed people even became depressed under prosecution.

------
rdtsc
For some reason this is a shock to me. It shouldn't be, I didn't know the guy.
But I was just playing with web.py framework. It is so strange, I thought just
today, I wonder if Aaron would accept a pull request, I could see a few things
to improve.

Looking back at his activity on github he was pulling in commits less than a
week ago:

<https://github.com/aaronsw?tab=activity>

I don't know details about the "JSTOR" case or about what he did at Reddit but
I can see in his code that he cared and wanted to make something better,
smaller and elegant. I respect that and it is a loss to have him gone forever.

~~~
snprbob86
I also never met him, but this really upsets me too.

It was a bummer when I saw the headline, but I'm really, really upset now that
I was reminded of his legal troubles.

Suicide is complex, so I don't want to speculate on whether or not he
committed suicide to avoid a trial and probably incarceration. Regardless, it
had to be a factor and it certainly fucked up his life somewhere between a
little bit and a lot a bit.

When I realized just how many spiders I've written... When I think about that
spider with a $240B+ market cap... When I think "This could have been me or
one of my friends"... I started to cry :-(

------
alexqgb
Meanwhile, the guys who wiped out literally trillions of dollars of wealth by
cratered the global economy in an orgy of greed, fraud, and reckless disregard
for everything but their own inflated bonuses couldn't get arrested if they
tired.

There are a lot of things wrong with this situation, but the egregiously
misaligned priorities of the US Attorneys are near the top of the list.

------
Eliezer
Aaron Swartz may have left everything to Givewell. This makes it even sadder
somehow in ways I can't fully describe.

<http://www.reddit.com/user/AaronSw#c4e7n4h>

The same page shows that the last Reddit comment he ever made was on /r/HPMOR.
I don't think I noticed at the time - I don't think I knew he was a fan.

I have said and will say that Aaron Swartz acted heroically in trying to free
the scientific literature. It was a good try.

------
pajju
Aaron Swartz's presence in various networks:

In HN: <http://news.ycombinator.com/user?id=aaronsw>

Pinboard: <https://pinboard.in/u:aaronsw>

His last tweet was on Jan 9th, <https://twitter.com/aaronsw>

Reddit: <https://aaronsw.jottit.com/reddit>

Google Scholar: <http://scholar.google.com/citations?user=PGTlB14AAAAJ>

Writings: <https://aaronsw.jottit.com/writings>

\---------------------------------------------

Things he made:

<https://www.jottit.com/>

<http://openlibrary.org/>

<http://watchdog.net/>

<http://reddit.com/>

<http://webpy.org/>

HN will miss your contributions.

Rest in Peace. #Love.

------
SquareWheel
Headline is a little misleading as Reddit admins deny his cofounder status.

[http://www.reddit.com/r/reddit.com/comments/9r8on/aaron_swar...](http://www.reddit.com/r/reddit.com/comments/9r8on/aaron_swartz_cofounder_of_reddit_was_investigated/c0e2p9m)

<https://twitter.com/alexisohanian/status/93374221685755904>

Still very sad, of course. I was fully in support of Aaron during the JSTOR
fallout.

~~~
guywithabike
<https://aaronsw.jottit.com/reddit>

~~~
SquareWheel
I'm sorry, but merging with a company doesn't make you a cofounder of that
company. You were not there when it was founded, thus it's not an applicable
label.

I'm just asking for a title correction, not trying to slander the guy.

~~~
argumentum
Not the place for this argument.

~~~
SquareWheel
Do quit it with the high and mighty attitude. I've made it very clear I'm not
attempting to slander anybody, just clearing up a misconception. When you
allow misinformation it will spread, and that shouldn't be acceptable.

~~~
argumentum
It's not so clear as you claim. It's disputed, and there are arguments both
ways, as "reddit" was part of another company, "not a bug", which was the
result of the merger w/infogami.

Nonetheless I did not mean to appear "high and mighty", but that there are
other threads regarding the reddit situation.

------
wyclif
Shocking and saddening. I've been working with Python lately and feel a
particular loss because of web.py and all the other good work he did. My
prayers go out to his family.

I wonder why some people here are assuming this tragedy is because of the
JSTOR incident. It seems to me that everyone should just meditate on what's
been lost, and defer judgement about why he would do this until there is
evidence.

~~~
ceol
_> I wonder why some people here are assuming this tragedy is because of the
JSTOR incident. It seems to me that everyone should just meditate on what's
been lost, and defer judgement about why he would do this until there is
evidence._

Thank you so much. It's awful to see people in here blaming the trial when
suicide is much more complex than a single incident pushing someone to the
edge like that.

~~~
benesch
See charonn0's comment below (<http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=5047044>).

"This sort of stress tends to eat away at your insides. You can't make long-
term plans of any kind; meet a nice person at the bar and you're reminded that
you can't start anything serious since you might be going away for a long
time. A thousand tiny reminders every day that you are already a prisoner and
will be for an indefinite period while the lawyers are lawyering. All the
defendant has is time to think about is what prison would be like, how the
course of their life is not in their hands. It is a feeling of abject
powerlessness."

~~~
ceol
Apparently he suffered from depression for many years:
<http://boingboing.net/2013/01/12/rip-aaron-swartz.html>

------
josh2600
I'm speechless.

He had his troubles and he made some bad decisions, but it didn't have to be
like this.

I wish his family peace and clarity in this dark hour. I'm just so sorry.

~~~
veemjeem
Sad, he just wanted to make the world a better place.

~~~
josh2600
Read the statement above.

If you're looking anywhere its probably towards the US Attorney's office, not
JSTOR.

~~~
droithomme
They went on a witch hunt against the guy and destroyed his life. There's only
so much a man can take. More blood on their hands.

------
toyg
Every single person employed by the US Attorney Office involved in this
tragedy should be sued to hell by the family. Have some goddamn responsibility
for once.

This is utterly disgraceful, I feel for his family.

~~~
krzyk
Did any of the employees of US Attorney Office forced him (like putting a gun
to a head of one of his loved ones) to do it? It was his own choice to end his
life.

~~~
rdtsc
> Did any of the employees of US Attorney Office forced him

No, but they absolutely chose to prosecute him to the fullest. They also I am
guessing didn't do it randomly. Some decision went into it. If you look at a
post above, even the original journal (at least "officially") lost interest,
someone, a cog in the DOJ, for whatever reason (I assume, political) must have
said "pedal to the metal with this one".

Here is DOJ, spending tax dollars, trying to shove this person in prison for
30 years or so, for downloading scientific papers. There is really no other
more dangerous or more pressing cases?

~~~
emperorcezar
There are people out their who through their own greed destroyed the economy.
They will not be prosecuted. Hell, no one will even give them a talking to.

Threaten someone's profit model, and you go to prison though.

------
smogzer
<https://www.google.com/search?q=doj+presecute> gives me : DOJ Will Not
Prosecute Goldman Sachs in Financial ... - ABC News 9 Aug 2012 – The Justice
Department has decided it will not prosecute Goldman Sachs or its employees
for their role in the financial crisis...

<http://www.aaronsw.com/weblog/productivity>

Share the load Even if your friends aren’t cheerful, just working on a hard
problem with someone else makes it much easier. For one thing, the mental
weight gets spread across both people. For another, having someone else there
forces you to work instead of getting distracted.

------
firloop
It's always a shame when someone commits suicide in a situation like this.
There's always a better option. Everyone makes mistakes.

I've seen this happen in my own life. I had a family friend that committed
suicide after being indicted of a felony DUI charge because he swore he never
would go to prison.

Tragic. My thoughts are with his family.

------
pbateman
A tragedy that this caring young man has taken his own life. My heart goes out
to his family.

This feels a bit inappropriate but at the moment I hope that some members of
the US Attorney's Office are wracked by guilt.

~~~
puppetsock
You're being a bit unfair. It's equally inappropriate for me to speculate
about his motives, but I recall there being an undercurrent of melancholia in
Aaron's writings even pre-indictment.

~~~
madaxe
In which case the prosecution should have realised he was a suicide risk and
acted appropriately. They seemingly did not.

~~~
aquateen
How would prosecutors go about that? Going through all his blog posts to look
for depression? And that would be standard procedure for everyone they
prosecute?

~~~
madaxe
Psychiatric assessment is a routine element of any criminal case. At any rate,
it is in the UK.

~~~
foldr
So you're saying that in the UK they don't prosecute people who are depressed?
As a Brit, that's news to me.

Come on. This prosecution may be unjust for other reasons, but it's just daft
to claim that they should not have prosecuted him because he was depressed.

~~~
madaxe
Did I say at any point that depression should exempt someone from prosecution?
No. I said their handling was inappropriate.

If someone is a suicide risk you _watch_ them, and typically ensure they're
not left alone.

Stick your straw man where the sun don't shine.

~~~
foldr
You think Aaron would have let the DA put him on some kind of suicide watch
when he wasn't even in custody?

I don't think you're thinking this through. It's natural to be angry, but the
DA didn't do anything wrong in relation to his depression, even if the
prosecution was unjust for other reasons.

~~~
madaxe
Social care doesn't require custody.

See
[http://www.mind.org.uk/mental_health_a-z/8042_mental_health_...](http://www.mind.org.uk/mental_health_a-z/8042_mental_health_and_the_police)
for an explanation of (in the UK, at least) the rights for those with mental
health issues in prosecutorial circumstances.

~~~
foldr
1) This occurred in the US, not the UK.

2) All of that requires the consent of the person involved. Do you think AS
would have suddenly decided to accept support because the DA prosecuting his
case offered it? If his family and friends couldn't stop his suicide, you
think the DA could have done so?

3) Are you sure it is typically the responsibility of the DA to sort that
stuff out in the US?

------
TimSchumann
I think it's tragic that we all, with our laws and courts and systems of
'justice', can ruin a brilliant kid's life to the point where he decides it's
not worth living anymore.

All over 'stealing' some ideas.

------
argumentum
_Here's to the crazy ones, the misfits, the rebels, the troublemakers, the
round pegs in the square holes... the ones who see things differently --
they're not fond of rules... You can quote them, disagree with them, glorify
or vilify them, but the only thing you can't do is ignore them because they
change things... they push the human race forward, and while some may see them
as the crazy ones, we see genius, because the ones who are crazy enough to
think that they can change the world, are the ones who do._

rip

------
rdl
This makes me think of Len Sassaman's (cypherpunk, remailer developer,etc.)
suicide from 18 months ago :( It's terrible when anyone kills himself, but
when it's someone who was doing something which pushed the limits like this,
it's worse.

------
markbao
I'd like to write something nice, but I'm in too much shock to even know where
to start. He showed his brilliance through code and his humanity through his
writing.

And as much as it is "right" to respect him for his very personal decision, I
can't help but wish he were still here. This is the premature end of the life
of someone who could have dramatically changed the world. Reminds us that, now
more than ever, that's our job here, too.

~~~
andrewhyde
The only way I can really react is to say that I'm here to talk for any
friends (or anyone dammit). Community support is community.

------
jervisfm
I didn't know aaronsw personally but I have just checked out his web.py that
others have been praising and it's really neat because it's so simple. What an
amazing piece of work. For others who may not be aware, just see this brief
tutorial [1].

His writings on life and how to get better at it are also phenomenal [2]

It's very sad that aaronsw is no longer with us for he was very gifted and
talented. May he rest in peace and my thoughts go out to his family and
friends.

[1] - <http://webpy.org/docs/0.3/tutorial> [2] -
<http://www.aaronsw.com/weblog/rawnerve>

------
alaskamiller
I remember most of the teachings from those days, back in the early 2000's.
Before hacking, before startups, before entrepreneurs, before changing the
world felt like a cool, common thing.

Before all of that, I remember this guy doing it, doing it well. And that
inspired me to believe I can do it.

An artist's only passion is to create, until the day you die. In between you
fight all sorts of battles that they don't warn you about. But the most
important being that when you create, you carry with you a savagery of sorts,
of making something new, of living in the edge.

And it's hard to survive. Nowadays we take for granted the Google style
lunches and buslines, but being at the edge of something has always been
trying to eke out in an hostile environment.

But this guy was there, all day, all night.

And that's special. Because it's an isolating experience.

I get the same suicidal thoughts that drift in and out too. It's partly
chemical and it's just your personality. When you stand outside of the system
long enough, watch long enough, suffer the heartbreak of seeing the wrongs
enough, you may end up there too.

This was the glorious ending I wished for him.

May he truly rest now in peace.

~~~
DennisP
Upvoted before I got to the "glorious ending" line. Wish I could take it back.

~~~
alaskamiller
Typo. Meant to write wasn't.

~~~
DennisP
Ahh, good. Thanks.

------
rdl
The other fucked up thing about this is that if he'd done this at Stanford,
Berkeley, or anywhere else in the 9th Circuit (which is the best circuit!), or
the 4th circuit, he wouldn't have been charged under CFAA. It's only the
backward backwaters of the 5th, 7th, and 11th who would charge under CFAA. He
was in the 1st, which hadn't yet ruled. SCOTUS would have been very likely to
side with the 9th, since the 9th is the best in general, and was correct in
this case.

So, yet another reason to be angry -- this case was perfect for removing ToS
violations from CFAA.

------
ckelly
This is so sad. I just responded today to an email from him about
demandprogress.org. RIP.

------
cullenking
I read this as I was preparing to head to my brothers memorial service in a
couple of hours. He committed suicide last week.

I just wanted to say that I understand why some people do it. My brother
suffered from schizophrenia - he was an incredibly nice and giving person who
kept on hurting people due to his disease. I understand why he took his own
life and I don't fault him for it. Of course I am incredibly sad about it and
wish I could have done so much more, but 20 years of intense suffering wears
on a person.

We don't know the exact details behind Aaron's decision. A significant percent
of the people who knew Stephen, even those who knew him well, didn't know
about his diagnosis either. It's impossible to draw any more conclusion than
"he was suffering and couldn't bear the burden anymore". My condolences to his
family, I truly know what they are going through and it's absolutely shit.

~~~
tspike
This post terrifies me. My own brother has been diagnosed with schizophrenia
(then they retracted that diagnosis and came up with a different one), but the
bottom line is that he has been suffering for most of his life and it seems
like no one can help him. It feels inevitable that a day will come that will
bring tragedy in some form or another.

I'm so sorry for your loss.

------
_p6xs
You can see some of his recent work here <https://github.com/webpy/webpy>

------
Laurentvw
I used to read his blog. Here's something I will always remember. When they
sold Reddit to Conde Nast, back in 2007 or so, Aaron Swartz wrote something
about it on his blog, saying how he felt about it and how he didn't have to
worry about money anymore, etc. And then he decided to give away some money to
startups in need. I replied to his blog post and he gave my old startup a $100
donation. It felt really generous. RIP Aaron.

------
thinkcomp
This makes me incredibly sad.

The work I do now is made possible by Aaron's work on PACER
(<http://www.nytimes.com/2009/02/13/us/13records.html>). We are all in his
debt.

Accordingly, I've added a memorial banner to PlainSite to ensure that everyone
who uses it daily to find cases (including many in government and the DOJ
specifically) will be reminded of his contribution--one of many.

------
auggierose
Here is a thing you can do: Boycott JSTOR from now on. And refuse to publish
to any journal / conference that demands $10 or more for downloading a paper
that should be free (if you are not that lucky to have access to a
subscription of that journal / conference).

------
smogzer
In April 2011 i was accused of a small crime that could have given prison
also. I was judged in January 2012 and accused to pay a fine of 500€ despite
the accusation had no proofs. Every day i though about how to prove my
innocence despite being a small accusation, it destroyed my work and mood for
the whole year.

How to fix ? if no damage was done there is nothing to accuse of.

And distribution of knowledge should be free, or ransom ware the release of
that info to the public should be made available upon compen$ation for the
work done, ransomware maybe.

Aaron ideals of greater good and sharing are nobler than any politician or any
other bullshitter that get media coverage and have the power to change the
world for the better.

------
shuaib
I know a lot is being speculated about how the whole JSTOR story is what could
have possibly pushed Aaron over the edge. And I think the discussion is
important in its own right, about easy access to academic journals. But, I
think it is very important that we do get to know what it actually was that
triggered this extreme act on part of Aaron. If someone as capable and
intellectual as Aaron could fall prey to something that makes one end his
life, what becomes of the average hacker who tries hard to achieve a level of
success such as that of Aaron, and goes through phases of depression in life.

There has to be more to it then just the JSTOR case.

------
Udo
It's simply awe-inspiring how much he was able to do with his short life. Time
to revisit one of my favourite talks:

<http://youtube.com/watch?v=4GwftoQElJ0>

~~~
benesch
This talk makes me sick to my stomach. There's so much life, so much energy,
so much passion. So much potential—you can feel, through a videotaped talk no
less—that he wants to go somewhere in life.

What a screwed up world.

~~~
Udo
Agreed. Others already described it as a waste, and it's hard to disagree with
the sentiment, but I doubt he would have been able to appreciate the amazing
life he lived. In some of his writings there is little room for anything but
the immediacy of his crippling disease and it's all the more inspiring what he
was able to accomplish even while battling this condition.

------
coderholic
Wow. Shocking news! I've been reading Aaron's stuff online and following him
on twitter for years. Only last week I re-read his amazing "Raw Nerve" blog
post series <http://www.aaronsw.com/weblog/rawnerve>

Lost for words!

------
mailshanx
Aaron Swartz was an excellent programmer and writer. I have bumped into his
code and writings often. The raw nerve series (
<http://www.aaronsw.com/weblog/rawnerve> ) have been especially influential in
shaping my thinking. Above all, he was a wonderful human being: the world is a
bit worse off and a sadder place without him. Rest in peace, Aaron.

------
robbiet480
Will HN's colors be going black?

~~~
catch23
this was posted an hour ago, pg is probably in bed already.

------
kanzure
Just the other day I emailed aaronsw asking about OCLC and his plans to topple
it. His response wasn't very optimistic. I should have asked him a more humane
question, like "sup" or "how's it hanging".

For whatever reason, I keep bumping into his work, whether it's through the
python world or through BOSSlab, geurrilla open access, or The Sprouts. He has
had a very strong impact on some very important problems in the world. I
suspect that he might have seen some (perhaps twisted) value in being a
martyr, especially in the face of extreme stress.. So far I prefer the living
version of aaronsw.

I think a lot of us can see parts of each other in Aaron, both in his values
and work. Another someone pointed out, just how many spiders have you written?
Everyone does it, but hardly nobody talks about it. Is it really so terrible
that we want to read science? or share code? And then this happens.

All of the criminal documents from his last court case are published on the
Internet Archive. This one in particular is rather thrilling to read:

[http://ia601205.us.archive.org/25/items/UsaV.AaronSwartz-
Cri...](http://ia601205.us.archive.org/25/items/UsaV.AaronSwartz-
CriminalDocument53/UsaV.AaronSwartz-CriminalDocument53.pdf)

"An analysis of one of the fingerprints on the Acer laptop purchased and used
by the defendant cannot exclude his friend, Alec Resnick."

"Promises, rewards, or inducements have been given to witness Erin Quinn
Norton. Copies of the letter agreement with her and order of immunity with
respect to her grand jury testimony are disclosed on Disk 3."

"a. The computer was registered under the fictitious guest name “Gary Host.”
b. The computer’s client name was specified as “ghost laptop.” A computer’s
client name helps to identify it on a network and can be chosen by its user.
In this case, the name was simply created by abridging the pseudonym “Gary
Host,” combining the first initial “g” with the last name “host.” c. The
fictitious “Gary Host’s” e-mail address was identified as
“ghost@mailinator.com.” This was a “throwaway” e-mail address. Mailinator is a
free, disposable e-mail service that allows a user to create a new e-mail
address as needed, without even registering the address with Mailinator.
Mailinator provides this service for users to have an anonymous and temporary
e-mail address. Mailinator accepts mail for any e-mail address directed to the
mailinator.com domain without need for a prior registration, and it allows
anyone in the world to read that mail without having to create an account or
enter a password. All mail sent to mailinator.com is automatically deleted
after several hours whether read or not."

"... "The defendant has requested first that the government provide ".. any
and all notes and reports provided to USSS or USAO by CERT in relation to the
forensic analysis of the ACER laptop, or any analysis of any evidence
including but not limited to the PCAP log information"."

`.. earlier posted on one of his websites, guerrillaopenaccess.com, a call-to-
arms entitled "Guerrilla Open Access Manifesto" which concluded "We need to
download scientific journals and upload them to file sharing networks. We need
to fight for Guerrilla Open Access."`

Context for some of these quotes can be found here:
<http://gnusha.org/logs/2012-09-15.log>

<http://news.ycombinator.com/user?id=aaronsw>

------
BryantD
My housemate committed suicide four years ago; his wife and I found the body.
Since then my charity of choice has been AFSP: their programs and support were
very important to nth of us afterwards. They do good work.

[http://www.afsp.org/index.cfm?fuseaction=home.viewPage&p...](http://www.afsp.org/index.cfm?fuseaction=home.viewPage&page_id=742A2CD1-073C-16AE-C84160536A4EC34F)

------
bijupunalor
OMG, the shock of it ...

He was such a terrific writer, easy to see why he could code so well

------
jerrya
Oh gosh, I am so sorry to read this.

I communicated with him once or twice re: rss, and I enjoyed his postings at
photo net.

He was young, bright, witty. This is terrible.

I will miss you Aaron, I had such hopes for you.

------
biesnecker
That is so goddamn sad. Rest in peace, Aaron.

------
pajju
In this blog article, he speaks a little about his illness -

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

------
orangethirty
Rest in peace, Mr. Swartz.

As life moves as the currents in the ocean, some of us find ourselves in
tropical paradises, whilst others are gifted the horrible cold of the artic.
There are some who manage to hang on to another current and make headway
towards warmer climates, there are some who do not. The world is now saddened
to learn that you were caught up in the harsh artic cold of life. We could ask
questions as to why did you not swim harder or faster, but none of us were in
your place.

Your short life was anything but worthy of such tragic end. You decided to
leave too early, too soon. Still, your presence still lives through your work,
the community you helped build, and the people you touched.

Farewell.

------
ilamparithi
As someone who has read pg's writings and watched YC grew, the reddit story is
very close to my heart. I always felt I knew Aaron, Steve and Alexis well even
though I never met or interacted with them. This is such a shock. RIP.

------
xycodex
I am really upset by this. I normally feel pretty far away from news stories I
read anywhere, but this feels close to home. =(

------
nitalumnus
Just read the talk. I didn't realise it was given at the college I studied in.
Sad to hear the news. Only today morning my daughter was saying how depressing
classes are at school because every subject they study talks about how humans
might become extinct. We can sometimes get too focused on problems and such
times all that we need is a person to just say "It is not too bad. There are
good things happening as well". Perhaps a lot of suicides are down to this
missing person in our lives. We are all more connected thanks to the Internet,
and also increasingly isolated.

------
seeingfurther
This should be a call to action to academia. Please open your journal archives
to the online community free of charge.

------
lominming
He made huge impact in the tech world. RIP

------
shuaib
This is just absolutely shocking.

Aaron Swartz was an inspiration. To know that a person you looked up to,
someone from whom you learned so much through his writings and his projects,
ended up finishing his life like that...

Speechless!

------
doe88
I'm sad, really sad. I didn't know him personally and have never spoken to
him. But few times when I read one of his tweets or when I visited a page of
his site from a link elsewhere, I was saying to myself that it should be hard
to be in his position actually, that it must put your life on hold and shut
any of your plans to be stuck in such a preposterous legal situation. I as a
simple citizen command you Aaron Swartz for all your inspirational work, Thank
You.

------
flexd
I am deeply sorry to hear about this and it brings back memories of last year
when a friend of mine did the same.

Depression is a terrible thing, and I hope we are one day able to cure it. It
_is_ treatable, seek help immediately if you are thinking about suicide! I
hate that you cannot look upon someone and instantly know if they are
depressed or not. If I could, I would drop everything to help a person I saw
having trouble.

I hope Aaron found peace, and I wish his family the best.

------
mjdk
Aaron was one of the genuinely good guys. May he rest in peace.

------
tomh
I only met Aaron once, in 2000, when he looked like this:
<http://www.aaronsw.com/weblog/000291>

I was always amazed that the wunderkind with the pizza stain on his shirt that
visited us at Arsdigita University accomplished so much. He was reserved, but
focused, forthright at such an early age. I couldn't help but feel he was a
little disappointed in the rest of us, but he never showed it.

RIP, Aaron. We'll miss you.

------
bongs
How Google (and we) encourage suicide:

The first link to "suicide" search results
(<https://www.google.com/search?q=suicide>) to
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Suicide> which unfortunately has "Reasons" &
"Methods" before "Prevention" and has no mention of why you shouldn't commit
suicide.

At the bottom of the first page of the results, the first related search is
"suicide methods" <http://imgur.com/7lJ02>

Further search for "suicide methods" results in the following first three
links:

<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Suicide_methods>

[http://wantdeath.blogspot.in/2011/07/fastest-and-painless-
su...](http://wantdeath.blogspot.in/2011/07/fastest-and-painless-suicide-
method.html)

and

<http://frater.com/suicidelist.html>

There is no mention of why suicide is bad and it just gives the depressed
person a way to end his/her life.

I don't blame only Google, but I think the entire web & the web community
(with SEO, SEM, etc) contributes a lot for this disaster.

------
ifeltsweet
He was an inspiration to me. What a loss to his family and internet. Rest in
peace.

------
makmanalp
For the record, a few months ago we had a back and forth about his writing
process, and he was kind enough to write one of his pieces in one of those
editors that keeps track of your changes so you can see the piece evolving.
Very insightful.

At the end of that, I wrote a reply commenting on what I thought about his
writing process, and never got anything back. He must have not been feeling
great at that point.

I feel bad now.

------
olefoo
Aaron,

I miss you, we never met, but you inspired me. You burned so brightly, yet so
briefly.

------
mekarpeles
Aaron, thank you for all you've done. It's had a tremendous impact on my life.

Aaron had a really interesting blog post on pain worth reading called,
"Leaning into the Pain". It's worth considering that pain doesn't just impact
the individual. Try to let others help. <http://www.aaronsw.com/weblog/dalio>

------
jeswin
This is tragic. :(

You were an inspiration at times. And more importantly, one among those who
make people want to change for the better.

------
erik757
I didn't know Aaron, but I've been using web.py for years, so I kind of felt
like I knew him from hanging around the online community. I really don't know
what to say - he was incredibly intelligent, and made great contributions -
the 'net gets a little lonelier every time we lose someone like this. :( RIP.

------
marvin
My condolences to everyone who knew Aaron. This is really sad.

------
krmboya
This is sad both for me as a person, and for the internet community as a
whole.

Aaron Swartz was the sort of person I wanted to be, his works, his
personality, and what he stood for.

Since nothing can ever be done to reverse this, may this occurence illuminate
the fact that laws are made for people, and not people for laws..

------
dscrd
Why isn't this anywhere on reddit.com?

~~~
stesch
The news got removed from multiple subreddits. Even a picture of him was on
the frontpage and on top of /r/pics/ for a short time is now removed.

~~~
DanBC
This is a good thing.

I guess Reddit is trying to avoid the Werther Effect (copycat suicides) and a
huge Reddit Mob attacking random bystanders.

------
blueprint
I find it odd that, to my knowledge at least, no one on HN has so far noted
the connection between Aaron's activism against the US government re:
SOPA/PIPA and his terrible treatment by them. Surely it's one of the reasons
why they went after him.

------
thomasvendetta
Rest in peace Aaron. Someone I looked up to in more ways than words any words
can explain.

------
edw519
OH NO!

Stunned & heartbroken.

------
stevenkho
35 years for downloading something that is morally, and supposedly be free
(funded by taxpayer money)? This is a big joke! I believe homicide cases
dished out lighter sentences.

If access to journals, or more accurately scientific research, is to be
restricted in such manner, then all government should stop funding/ providing
grants for scientific researches, at least not from taxpayers money. These
interested parties, namely the journals publishers, should come out with such
funds as eventually they are making money from such works. It's ridiculous for
the public to fund their business.

RIP Aaron Swartz.... you have make yourself heard, loud and clear, to the
civil society.

------
fharper1961
This has hit me hard. So much potential, and gone so young. So sad. Rest in
peace Aaron.

------
siglesias
If anybody is partial to listening to music during times like these, I
recommend Tchaikovsky's Symphony no. 6 [1]. The fourth movement in particular
is extraordinarily moving and an ice cold glimpse of disdain, depression, and
ultimately the death (some say suicide) of a romantic genius [2]. Of course
the entire work is something to behold in all its movements.

1) <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Symphony_No._6_(Tchaikovsky)> 2)
<http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DtLq8wj0p80>

------
unshornwolly
Sad. Terrible news.

I was just reading 5ish year old comments on reddit about him and suicide
[http://www.reddit.com/r/reddit.com/comments/1octb/reddit_cof...](http://www.reddit.com/r/reddit.com/comments/1octb/reddit_cofounder_aaron_swartz_discusses_how_he/c1oe1d)
which lead my to this blog post of his describing a suicide
<http://www.aaronsw.com/weblog/dying>

I lost a friend to suicide. It is and was the worst thing ever. I still miss
him dearly about 1.5 years on. Breaks my heart. My love and condolences to his
friends and family.

------
pyroMax
It's a sad, sad world we live in. RIP Aaron.

------
kimura
RIP

------
endlessvoid94
I'm so sorry to hear this. My heart goes out to the Swartz family. No matter
anyone's contributions, this gets the volume turned down on everything else
turned down.

The only thing we have on this earth is time.

------
winter_blue
When think about it, what PG's close friend and buddy Robert Tappan Morris did
with bringing down a vast number of computer on the internet back then; was
incomparably and inexorably worse.

Yet, Robert Morris has had a great life, both as an acclaimed professor at the
greatest technological institution that has ever existed (MIT), and of course
as a key member of Y Combinator.

Yet a petty non-criminal like Aaron is put through something infinitely worse
than the "punishment" of community service that was dished out of RTM.

Ha. Some justice system indeed!

------
bane
In his young life Aaron demonstrated that he wanted the world to have
knowledge, ethics and community. I think the best way we can honor his legacy
is to carry those things forward as best we can.

RIP Aaron

------
level09
Shit! one of the most brilliant minds of all time, his series raw nerve
<http://www.aaronsw.com/weblog/rawnerve> has inspired hundreds of people
including me to overcome life pain and depression. how could he just do that ?

Aaron, you should have not done that .. I'm sure thousands of people of this
community would have fought for you to get you out of your problems .. your
contributions will always be remembered .. it's just so sad ..

------
faramarz
I can't stop reading his writings. He was a talented writer, amongst other
things. I really feel the connection even though I never met him.

My condolences to his family and the entire community. :(

------
benatkin
I was very saddened to hear this news. I posted my thoughts to my blog.
<http://benatkin.com/2013/01/12/rip-aaron-swartz/> He accomplished a lot, and
taught us a lot, and I think most of us can still learn from him.
<http://www.aaronsw.com/weblog/archive>

------
sctechie
True shame. Regardless of your opinion of his actions concerning JSTOR, it's
undeniable he made a positive contribution to the web.

------
revskill
R.I.P Aaron. You're get followed now and forever for all the good things
you've done. We'll continue fighting for a better world.

------
jdthomas
This is awful news.

I haven't been in touch with Aaron for several years, but I had a brief
encounter with him in 2008. I was between jobs and decided to help out with
his watchdog.net project of the time. He was always incredibly kinda and once
tracked down my number and called to check that I was OK after I was
unexpectedly offline for a several days.

Great guy; will be missed.

------
kghose
Basically: if you feel strongly about JSTOR and it's ilk do the following in
order of preference

1\. Publish in an open access journal 2\. Publish in a regular journal and
make YOUR version available in <http://arxiv.org/> or your website

It will get you more citations and you will do your part in disseminating
science

------
littledot5566
RIP Aaron...

------
nanook
Terrible terrible news. What troubles me the most is that this could happen to
any one of us. RIP Aaron.

------
lenkite
This is extremely tragic. The world is a horrible place when some of its best
people loose all hope and choose to leave it early. It is quite crazy that
that downloading scientific papers can incur sentences longer than the maximum
for crimes such as rape, manslaughter, etc.

------
aerolite
Fuck :(

------
hihuhiahei
Is there a proof that it's a suicide? He dies yesterday, and annouced as
`suicide` immediately?

~~~
shrikant
Did you even read the posted link, or are you just responding to the headline?

------
n_coats
Regardless of everything happening in his life, it's terrible in any instance
when someone is pushed to the point where they rationalize taking their own
life. Best wishes and thoughts to Aarons family and friends as they mourn
during this horrible time.

------
onthedole
I find Aaron's responses on his own Wikipedia talk page quite a fascinating
insight to his personality and humility.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Talk:Aaron_Swartz>

------
projectileboy
Goddamnit, this is just horrible. My sympathies to Aaron's friends and
families. I always found his work and his writings interesting and sometimes
even inspiring. Our society would have benefitted from an extra 60 years of
this guy.

------
Harkins
Does anyone have a copy of the source to theinfo.org or any of this previous
versions? I have a complete archive of the mailing lists. I'd like to make
sure it doesn't disappear, it and other things Aaron did inspired things I
made.

------
sergiotapia
Spez, from Reddit, says he isn't a cofounder:

[http://www.reddit.com/r/todayilearned/comments/d2njs/til_the...](http://www.reddit.com/r/todayilearned/comments/d2njs/til_there_was_a_third_cofounder_of_reddit_who_was/c0x40yz)

------
jtuyen
RIP Aaron. You will be missed.

------
leothekim
What a terrible loss. Aaron had many fruitful years ahead of him. He left us
far too early. My condolences to his family and loved ones. I hope at least
this compels others who have depression to seek help for themselves.

------
edwardliu
RIP Aaron. You were awesome.

------
Tichy
Very sad, and very unexpected. He had so many interesting things going on.

------
bitL
R.I.P. Aaron! We miss you!

------
gstar
So sad to lose someone that's made such a dent on the world so young.

------
gojomo
[http://qblog.aaronsw.com/post/38405145996/part-of-the-
player...](http://qblog.aaronsw.com/post/38405145996/part-of-the-player-
character-code-is-that-you)

------
ttl
Man. What a shame. We lost a seriously talented and creative guy.

------
snowpolar
Somehow, a part of me hopes that he will have a few scheduled blog posts that
get posted on his weblog in the future, hopefully revealing more things we
didn't know about.

RIP Aaron Swartz.

------
maxwin
Can pg or someone with the access please put the black bar on?

------
richardofyork
I am very saddened by this young man's taking of his life and the apparent
reckless pursuit by the Government to prosecute him for a seemingly minor
"crime."

------
stesch
And all over Reddit the posts to the news get removed. :-(

------
arrowgunz
This is probably the first time a HN story has got so much traction in such
little time. This explains how much people will miss Aaron. RIP bro.

------
mindcrime
Wow, this is terribly, terribly sad news. :-(

Wish there was more that could be said, but I guess the only appropriate thing
is:

R.I.P. aaronsw, you will be missed.

------
berlinbrown
So he could have gone to jail for hacking into the MIT machines/library.
Machines where they knew had already gained access to.

------
hxf148
I hope that you have found peace and a better place Aaron. It was too soon to
lose you, we need the brave ones.

------
Keyframe
Suicide is almost never a solution. It's a real shame this couldn't be
prevented in due time. Rest in peace!

------
rooshdi
Thank you for your activism. RIP Aaron.

------
operator
We are all Aaron Swartz. Let's not let our generation down. Stick together
people.

------
TommyDANGerous
OH my goodness this is terrible, my condolences to his friends and family.

------
wjs9889
RIP

------
kaeawc
RIP Aaron.

------
ErikAugust
I wonder if the DOJ will charge Google with scraping the whole Internet.

------
maked00
This kid had it all, fame, fortune, brains.

So what we wrong? Why was he so unhappy?

------
eriktrautman
It's all over HN but Reddit's front page is still memes and cats.

------
dguaraglia
May he rest in peace and his legacy be remembered. That's all.

------
infoseckid
I was hoping to hear from PG on this .... :( nothing yet

------
dragons
I'm very sad. A piece of my hope is gone.

------
geuis
Its sad that this is important and at the top of HN, yet Reddit is still full
of cat pictures on the front page.

~~~
oditogre
It's #2 on my front page (via /r/news).

------
staunch
RIP Aaron.

------
gbraad
...

Thank you Aaron. RIP

------
verysoftoiltppr
Can anyone find details about how he suicided? He might be faking is own
death..

------
tonetheman
wow. so sad.

------
rationalbeaver
.

------
ajdecon
.

------
zachlipton
.

------
nikcub
.

------
jspthrowaway2
I have no words. I've been sitting with my phone's cursor blinking in this box
and, for the first time in a long time, my stomach has turned so much from
this news that I have nothing to write.

What an absolutely dreadful shame. My heart is wrenched for his family and all
of us, who lost a brilliant young man. I'm a month older than he was, and to
imagine someone _my age_ thinking there was no way out... with all of the
possibilities of his life, a life just beginning.

Christ.

~~~
usaphp
When you are faced with 35 years of jail and $1Mln fine - i guess you start
thinking out of the box...

~~~
revskill
What about being in jail with a laptop and internet ? That kind of prison
seems more human in this case.

~~~
guyzero
A lot of prisoners have no access to the outside world, including the
internet. Many prisons lack even a basic library. Inmates working with The
Last Mile (<http://thelastmile.org/>) tweet by passing their tweets written on
paper to volunteers who actually enter them.

------
wilfra
RIP. So sad.

Like many others here, may path also crossed his several times as I kept
bumping into his work. He had a ton of really cool side projects. I pinged him
a few times about some of them and he was always really gracious and helpful
in his responses. I didn't find out his stature in the community (reddit
cofounder etc) until recently and was shocked he had taken the time to reply
to me.

As for the reason he did this now: I'm sure it was a combination of things
that had built up over many years, however in a criminal case like this, now
would be the time his lawyer would be attempting to work out a plea bargain
with the prosecutors. If they were demanding a long prison sentence and
multiple felony convictions, and the evidence against him was very strong (as
it sounds like it was) many people would probably contemplate suicide.

------
coderdude
My heart goes out to his family. I'm a big fan of his work, particularly
web.py. He made a huge impact on the web by anyone's standards and his
contributions have personally touched my life in many ways. Rest in peace,
man.

------
bytetom
At 24, he was just a kid. I can't even imagine the amount of stress in his
life. Who are we to question or speculate on why he did what he wanted to do.
I'm glad he contributed what he did in this world. I'm glad we had 24 years.
He decided we weren't getting any more. I never feel sad for suicide. You
can't tell people you want to do it or they will have your freedom taken away.

Sorry for bad grammar... small comment boxes make me feel pressured to get out
everything in a few lines quickly.

------
edwardunknown
I admired him quite a bit after the JSTOR thing.

------
williamle8300
What can we do to help carry forward, and continue Aaron's work?

------
achompas
.

