
The internet’s own boy: the story of Aaron Swartz [video] - Libertatea
http://aeon.co/video/technology/the-internets-own-boy-the-story-of-aaron-swartz/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+AeonMagazineEssays+%28Aeon+Magazine+Essays%29
======
zz1
Just the video, embedded from youtube.

Here's the official site of the movie: [http://www.takepart.com/internets-own-
boy](http://www.takepart.com/internets-own-boy)

Definitively a movie anyone using the internet should watch. I cried.

~~~
ddingus
As did I, and that was surprising.

What moved me the most was Lessig. Aaron got right into Larry's soul, and once
there, asked a simple, genuine question that could not be denied. There is a
quiet power in that I find profound, as if we all operate under limits that
really aren't there when we really do question.

"Sweet, sweet boy." Yeah Larry, indeed.

~~~
gknoy
This. I haven't been able to watch this, because even __reading__ about it
makes me cry. I didn't know Aaron, never knew anything about him before this,
and I still feel profound loss and tragedy whenever I think about him and his
experiences. He sounded like an amazing human being.

~~~
ddingus
Me too. I did know about him through his activities. The name popped up on my
radar a long time ago.

What I didn't know is he was so young. I also didn't know how many great
advocacy efforts he helped to setup or founded. It's amazing! And that, I
could feel, like white hot, and to be honest, got me far more politically
aware.

When the Jstor event happened, I found out a lot more, and when he killed
himself, I just felt loss. Profound, basic loss. And it was a hard loss,
because I just began to know, and was interested in following Aaron, feeling
like good things were going to happen, and then just like that, he's gone...
:(

This work is really good. It communicates that aspect of Aaron to people in a
meaningful way. Yes, it will be hard to watch. I found it worth it though.

I question more now. And I think about limits and norms a lot...

------
s_dev
"But also, I must admit that I am a little disappointed in Aaron. I understand
that depression is a serious disease that can fell any person, however strong.
But he chose the path of the activist long ago. And the path of the activist
is to fight, for as long and as hard as it takes, to effect change. Aaron had
powerful friends, a powerful support network, and a keen sense of moral cause
that put him in the right. That's how he got that support network of powerful
friends and fellow activists in the first place" \-- J. Atwood
[http://blog.codinghorror.com/the-end-of-
ragequitting/](http://blog.codinghorror.com/the-end-of-ragequitting/)

I always felt this Jeff Atwood blog post was a good run down of why everyone
was so upset over Aaron's suicide. It was a stupidly tragic mistake and Aaron
knew better.

~~~
ionised
He wouldn't have been engaging in much political activism sitting in a jail
cell for 38 years.

I can't feel disappointed in Aaron at all. I would probably do the same thing
in his position.

I'm disappointed in a society and a 'justice' system that pushes for this to
happen.

~~~
res0nat0r
It would have been around 6 months if he would have taken the plea deal. If he
didn't it still would not have been anything close to 38 years.

~~~
ddingus
It was the felony and the limits on his future in politics that drove a lot of
it.

Some jail time wouldn't have been enough. I think he would have done that.
Maybe while in there, bad things might have happened.

But, it was obvious to me Schwartz understood code, people, how to organize
and advocacy. He wanted to build a body of people and power and do some
things.

To him, a felony conviction undermines all of that, and he saw it as useless,
himself useless.

~~~
tedunangst
A felony conviction does not appear to have set Robert Morris too far back in
life, or prevented him from changing the world.

~~~
ddingus
Yes. It is not the end of the world. And we can see that. Options, Like having
it expunged exist too.

That Aaron let it get into his head and could not or would not seek help, nor
really understanding so many people would have his back is tragic.

------
Zigurd
The people who could not find their way to some thoughtfulness and restraint
and stop an insanely inappropriate and disproportionate legal travesty should
lose their jobs and be driven out of their professions.

~~~
zz1
We should resume who did what:

* Massachusetts US Attorney Carmen Ortiz pushed for the prosecution

* MIT (can we be more specific?) did nothing to stop the prosecution (to say the least)

Please, continue...

~~~
afarrell
Those curious about MIT's role should 1) Read Prof Hal Abelson's report
[http://swartz-report.mit.edu/](http://swartz-report.mit.edu/) 2) Remember
that a prosecutor does not serve the person who reported a crime or prompted
an investigation. A prosecutor serves The State
[http://lawcomic.net/guide/?p=1423](http://lawcomic.net/guide/?p=1423)

~~~
Zigurd
That report is a shameful whitewash

~~~
tptacek
You're accusing Hal Abelson of deliberately deceiving the public? Or is there
a better way to interpret what you wrote?

~~~
Zigurd
If you look at my response below, the report does not have to be an outright
lie to be a whitewash. It can deceive by omission, for example. The headline
of CNN's coverage of the report was "We did not target Aaron." That's true-
ish. There's a lot of room between there and the truth, which is more like "We
failed to stand up to stop a bad investigation and prosecution, and now we're
dodging responsibility."

Would you place all the responsibility for the report on Abelson? Or do you
think Rafael Reif is responsible for setting the parameters of the report to
be produced?

~~~
tptacek
That's why I used the word "deceive", as you did right here as well, and so I
guess my response is to repeat the question I asked above.

Do you really believe Hal Abelson was deliberately or negligently --- ie,
culpably --- deceptive?

 _later: added clarifying word "really"_

~~~
Zigurd
"Deceptive" is your word. I said "whitewash."

A whitewash is dissembling and deflecting and, ultimately, deceptive. Abelson,
and the other authors of the report should have refused to write it.

But Reif is mostly to blame. He asked for the report, and used it to deflect
blame.

Now here is where YOU are being deceptive. You are digging for "Hal Abelson is
culpably deceptive." You would even prefer something stronger. That's a weak
rhetorical ploy. Write it yourself if you want to read it.

~~~
tptacek
"Deceptive is your word. I said 'whitewash'. A whitewash is [...] ultimately
deceptive."

I don't feel like I'm so much trying to use debate tactics against you as to
observe how uncomfortable even you seem to be with the idea that Hal Abelson
was deliberately deceptive.

~~~
Zigurd
So you are completely comfortable defending the Abelson report, and find it
completely honest. That's dandy.

Are you still comfortable with your comments here:
[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=4529484](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=4529484)

~~~
tptacek
Yes. And, yes. Why? What does that have to do with Abelson's report?

------
afarrell
As someone working on an project for DARPA & the FBI, having a dump of all of
the court documents from PACER would be awfully useful.

([https://github.com/memex-explorer](https://github.com/memex-explorer) if you
are curious)

------
JDiculous
Not a fan of unnecessary reposts, but this guy's death was a huge tragedy for
our generation so I don't mind more people seeing this. He could've been one
of the first congressmen actually in touch with our generation, and willing to
take a stance on issues he believes in rather than pander to lobbyists.

------
peter303
I saw it and recommend it. It gives some insight into Aaron's life and legal
situation.

------
globuous
I watched it a while ago and I believe the movie talks about Aaron possibly
investigating on the correlation of results found in JSTOR's academic papers
database in order to conclude on the influence of financing on their results
(hopefully what I'm saying makes sense... I may also very well be wrong about
this claim). I am myself very interested in this topic, regardless of whether
that's what Aaron was trying to do when downloading these papers. Does anyone
know if such an analysis has been performed since/before/ever ?

------
evolve2k
Aeon's Deputy Editor has also (just?) published a 2600 word detailed article
on Aaron Swartz asking "Persecuted little guy, or powerful revolutionary –
what sort of wunderkind was Aaron Swartz?"

Posted here
[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=9505156](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=9505156)

------
dang
[https://hn.algolia.com/?query=internet%27s%20own%20boy&sort=...](https://hn.algolia.com/?query=internet%27s%20own%20boy&sort=byDate&prefix&page=0&dateRange=all&type=story)

------
jbob2000
What's crazy is that the accomplices in the Boston Marathon bombings faced
less jail time than Aaron. That's right people, copying documents is a worse
crime than being an accomplice to terrorism.

------
Radle
"tragic story"

------
sparkzilla
For those catching up, I made a timeline of the events of Swartz life and
arrest: [http://newslines.org/aaron-swartz/](http://newslines.org/aaron-
swartz/)

------
nthcolumn
They were doing exactly the same thing as him (and worse) but they killed him.

------
masterminding
People should really be upset at the first girlfriend who tipped the Feds
about the manifesto for immunity.

You really have to keep most people on a need-to-know basis.

~~~
nness
I think the movie conveys pretty clearly that she shows a lot of remorse and
anger about how she was treated and the information she gave up under duress.

~~~
masterminding
It doesn't matter. Her cooperating for immunity led to a ripple effect of him
committing suicide.

------
djrobstep
This time can we please skip the obligatory mega-thread about if Aaron was or
wasn't a True Founder of Reddit?

~~~
teach
It appears that we have skipped it. So, good job?

