Some Thoughts On Aaron Swartz
from the a-loss dept
This past weekend has, tragically, been way too much about death for me. On Friday evening I found out that a close relative had just passed away, and had just spent some time talking to other family members, crying, figuring out how I was going to fly across the country for a funeral, etc. I'd finally had enough and was about to shut down and go to sleep, when an email popped up from a friend telling me that Aaron Swartz had killed himself. And, suddenly, there was more death to think about in a very different way. The past few days I've been thinking a lot about both my relative and Aaron -- two very different people who probably only share the end date of their lives. I'm mourning them both, but since Aaron was a public figure and relevant to what we write about here, I wanted to write something about him, even as the mourning sector of my brain tries to figure out how you grieve for multiple people at the same time.I did not know Aaron all that well, but I did know him. I've been reading many of the stories from those who did know him quite well, and it's amazingly touching. But I wanted to share my short story, because it's what keeps running through my mind. In my head, there are a few key moments that I keep thinking about concerning Aaron. One is the first time I met him. I can't place the exact time, but I think it was a decade ago at a conference in Santa Clara (I remember the hotel well). He was sitting at a table, and wow, did he look young. Very much like the kid in this photo by Richard Gibson, that Aaron posted to his own website, showing himself talking to Larry Lessig back in 2002 -- at the age of 15.
I started reading his blog soon after that, which was an interesting mix of content from technical to political to philosophical to personal. When he started college, at Stanford, something about his blog posts were both captivating and horrifying at the same time -- describing in vivid details the kinds of thoughts many of us have when we go to college for the first time and are trying to figure out how and where we fit into the world. What struck me as so odd was that because of everything else he had done, my mind just defaulted to assuming that he was completely mature in all aspects of his life. But he was still just a kid.
The blog post I most remember came maybe a month or so after he had gotten to Stanford, and it involved him telling the story -- again, in both captivating and horrifying detail -- about him hooking up with a girl. My memory is fuzzy at this point -- and a very cursory spin through his blog doesn't turn up the post -- but I remember her joking about him being famous, which lead to the usual sort of awkwardness that comes with early makeout sessions, but all described in detail. I also vaguely remember some sort of followup, indicating that the girl was mortified about the public reporting on their rendezvous.
It was Aaron, sorting out his life in public. That may be more common these days, but it was certainly relatively new back then, and it was so disjointed from the "profesional" Aaron, who had already accomplished so much. I kept thinking... "that's right, he's just a kid."
But the kid grew up. He left Stanford, he joined the first YCombinator class, he did a startup that didn't go far, but which eventually led him to joining the early Reddit team. Here and there, he kept popping up, always doing something interesting. The next time I came across him was in 2009, when the FBI investigated him for daring to download a ton of public domain court documents from PACER. While PACER tries to charge $0.10/page (at the time it was $0.08) the documents are still public domain. Many people find this annoying -- and Aaron was a true crusader for the right to information. So when he found out that some libraries were experimenting with free PACER access as a trial, he went to one, set up a perl script and had it cycle through tons of documents, downloading them for him to collect. Eventually, the FBI realized it had no case: freely offered access to public domain material is legal to use.
Obviously, that foreshadowed his more recent legal troubles.
Over the last couple years, Aaron and I emailed occasionally. He and I were two of the only people (along with Senator Wyden) who seemed really concerned about the predecessor to SOPA/PIPA called COICA, and he had talked to me about helping get more people aware of the problems of the bill. And then, when SOPA/PIPA came along, we were in touch over the efforts against that (along with many others as well). But I also remember the last two times I heard from Aaron. Last summer, out of the blue, he emailed me to say that he'd run across a minor (but annoying) technical error on Techdirt, and suggested how to fix it. And then, in October, when he finally got his FOIA request returned concerning ICE's domain seizures, he emailed to let me know. I never communicated with him directly about his own ongoing case, but I remember being both surprised and impressed (and then less surprised once I thought about it) that he'd continued to push forward on his activist causes, even while facing trial for one of them.
The only time I ever met Aaron in person was that one time, a decade ago. I probably emailed with him less than 100 times -- with most of those coming over the past couple of years. I always knew he was complex -- wise way beyond his years in some things, and still figuring out other things at the same time. But the news of his suicide definitely took me by surprise, though others have pointed out that he's hinted at such things in the past.
I will also say that I know there's been a rush to "blame" the lawsuit against him on this. In fact, our September post detailing the new charges against him got a tremendous amount of traffic over the weekend. Aaron's own family has stated:
“Aaron’s death is not simply a personal tragedy. It is the product of a criminal justice system rife with intimidation and prosecutorial overreach. Decisions made by officials in the Massachusetts U.S. Attorney’s office and at MIT contributed to his death.”Just as I was hesitant to blame Lori Drew or Dharun Ravi for actions that were connected to later suicides of people they had taunted, it still feels wrong to say that the case itself led to his suicide, without more details. That said, as Tim Lee noted, knowing Aaron, he would be the first in line to suggest the value of using the circumstances of his own death to get reform of the massively broken Computer Fraud and Abuse Act (CFAA), which he was charged under.
Again, as detailed in our earlier post, as well as an earlier analysis, the case against him was a joke: it involved massive charges for downloading information that was made freely available to the campus network he was on. At best, we could have seen a trespassing citation -- but instead he was facing decades in jail and seven figure fines. For accessing information. It really showed a case where the feds seemed to be going after Aaron because they didn't like him -- and, as we've seen, when the feds don't like you, they can make your life hell. JSTOR -- the supposedly "harmed" party -- wanted nothing to do with the case. The feds just seemed to want to make an example out of Aaron... for the "crime" of wanting access to knowledge. It would be great to see an Aaron Swartz Act to reform the worst parts of the CFAA. It might not be his biggest legacy, but it would be a good one to add to a long list.
Larry Lessig -- who knows more about both Aaron and the case against him than most people -- has a tremendously powerful post calling out the federal government (and MIT) for their actions in the case against Aaron, suggesting that the feds offered up a plea deal, but Aaron would not take anything that would have him described as a felon. More is going to come out on what happened, I'm sure, and the government is not going to look good.
If you want to read more thoughts on Aaron from people who knew him much better than I, I suggest you read the posts by Cory Doctorow and Danny O'Brien. Also, Mathew Ingram has been curating a list of some of the more interesting remembrances -- and a tumblr for Remember Aaron Swartz is filling up with wonderful remembrances.
There are so many sad things about this story, but the biggest is the most obvious: knowing just how much Aaron had accomplished already in his short life, combined with his drive and determination, we'll now never know how much more he would have accomplished down the road -- and every single one of us will lead less fulfilling lives because of that loss. He was still just a kid... a kid who had already accomplished amazing things.
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Filed Under: aaron swartz
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Wrong to share mankind's knowledge
http://c4sif.org/2013/01/tim-lee-some-punishment-of-swartz-was-probably-appropriate/
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Re: Wrong to share mankind's knowledge
I will tell you what is morally wrong. It is morally wrong to keep important scientific ideas hidden behind a wall of copyright/patents/trademarks rather than having them out in the open where they can be discussed and improved.
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Re: Re: Wrong to share mankind's knowledge
Knowing Crosbie Fitch is a copyright abolitionist, I knew his comment was sarcasm, even before opening the link he posted. Reading the linked post makes it completely clear.
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Re: Re: Re: Wrong to share mankind's knowledge
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Re: Re: Wrong to share mankind's knowledge
For science and the useful arts to progress, the American people need copyright, they too need the power to prohibit the sharing of mankind's knowledge, for without it there is no profit in its production.
It is morally wrong to impede the people's learning and to impede the progress of science, therefore it is a crime against humanity to conspire or prepare in acts that show intent to disseminate scientific papers contrary to copyright.
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Re: Re: Re: Wrong to share mankind's knowledge
Eventually it will simply have to be abolished.
Abolition is the only way - you cannot have "a little bit" of it - just like you cannot be "a little bit" pregnant.
Once you have some copyright then you will always have people with a strong financial interest in extending both its scope and length. It will grow in the body politic like a cancer. Cutting it out is the only solution - painful for some but necessary.
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Re: Re: Re: Wrong to share mankind's knowledge
Try harder.
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Re: Re: Re: Re: Wrong to share mankind's knowledge
This is why he created Creative Commons - to make it easier for people to share their work (to the extent they were comfortable with), but without making any value judgement about copyright itself - save that it is the law, to be obeyed, with infringers liable for damages.
Ask Mike Masnick. I think you'll find even he believes copyright is essential.
Only fringe idiots and psychopaths promulgate crazy ideas that copyright might not be as sacrosanct as any other human right.
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Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Wrong to share mankind's knowledge
And the info that Mr. Swartz "pirated" (you did imply he was a pirate when you said "or any other pirate") - was this info publicly available? For the first case - yes, PACER documents are public domain, so the copyright holder has already made the decision. For the second case, JSTOR didn't want anything to do with the case - so the copyright holder also made THAT decision, as well.
So...what was your point, again?
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At any rate, I would, in general, suggest caution in politicizing the death of this brilliant young man; it won't look good.
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Re: Wrong to share mankind's knowledge
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Re: Wrong to share mankind's knowledge
Some kind of Company Man I guess.
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Re: Wrong to share mankind's knowledge
Repeat the same "IT IS MORALLY AND LEGALLY WRONG TO STEAL" misinformation blurb all you want. It doesn't change the fact that Aaron was authorized to do everything that he did by the very institutions he was "stealing" from. Maybe it was inconsiderate, but being rude does not constitute jail time.
Please educate yourself further on the matter.
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Re: Wrong to share mankind's knowledge
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You fight back by living long and living well
The tragedy here is compounded not just by this young man's unfortunate decision, but by the loss of potential and what he stood for.
I do not know the origin of this quote but I've heard it said "The best form of revenge is to live well." I think in this case it could be adapted to "The best way to defeat your enemies is to outlive them."
If he'd held on for long enough, those persecuting him would grow old and die... Aaron's generation is a generation of sharing culture. His best years were yet to come... even in the unlikely event he would have done prison time. His generation will be kinder to people like him, they will even grant pardons and anoint them as leaders.
How many former terrorists, agitators, protestors and "felons" do we know who have gone on to become leaders and presidents after release from prison under political charges. Nelson Mandela, Gandhi, Benazir Bhutto to name just a few. He inspired thousands, but he could have inspired millions.
If copyright reformers want to use his tragic death for the purposes of reform - I say they should - they should milk it for what it's worth. At this point in time if it was my death I don't think many would use it for such a purpose but if they did I'd be honoured.
I have a close relative who has attempted to commit suicide twice. Both times they have regretted it afterwords. Depression plays a big part, but they have also experienced some tragic circumstances and loss in their lives - circumstances that have led to this depression and sense of hopelessness.
It's worthwhile considering that most of us would be pretty depressed if we were facing such heavy persecution. You only need a temporary - but intense - bout of hopelessness and self-deprecation to push you over the edge.
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Re: You fight back by living long and living well
I wonder what percentage of people facing criminal charges commit suicide and even whether it's higher than the general population. Suicide (except in the case of a painful, lingering terminal illness) seems like a coward's way out- transferring your misery on to the shoulders of those who love you. It seems like he had a lot of people in his life he could have reached out to, but chose this instead.
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Re: Re: You fight back by living long and living well
Also suicide is a well established form of protest in some cultures.
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Re: Re: Re: You fight back by living long and living well
Also suicide is a well established form of protest in some cultures.
Good point, I can see the lasting label of being a child molester as something that'd drive someone over the edge. But such is not the case here. Also, we're not talking about a Buddhist monk setting himself on fire in protest of a war. There's no tradition of suicide as protest in the US, and all reports indicate that he suffered from depression.
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This incident was literally ruining his family financially. Whatever his reason is, he decided that him living and going to trial was far worse than him simply giving up.
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Re: Re: Re: You fight back by living long and living well
However, as these dire moments get worse or extend their durations long enough the individual mental health will degrade to the point this natural aversion to taking their own life will not be strong enough. After a determined point when depression kicks in the cycle starts to feed itself and honestly, having lived and followed more than one person that developed such mental state it's virtually impossible to stop it without help unless you are in the very beginning of the illness.
Those who got close enough but did not act are fortunate. They were either helped by some external factor (ie: my mother did not suicide because she thought of me - I was a baby at the time) or due to intense and dedicated help from friends, family and/or professionals.
When the person gets to the state where he/she acts it cannot be controlled anymore without serious help. Regardless if the attempt works or not. Obviously there are the cases where the person just want to injure him/herself to call for help. Then it's not an attempt of suiciding. Yet.
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Re: Re: Re: Re: You fight back by living long and living well
Everyone is virtually guaranteed to have someone they can identify who would be harmed by their suicide (most people more than they will initially think of). That does not mean that this factor occurring to them is sufficient to stop them or entirely absent from those who do commit the act. Indeed, in murder/suicide cases, the murder victim is sometimes this factor and the person committing suicide opts to remove the factor rather than alter their plans.
There is still the resolution of the conflict and the summoning of the necessary willpower to choose the life of suffering that the suicidal sees before them over causing harm to others, even those close to them.
I know this from first hand experience. I spent at least five minutes a single motion away from the final act, which I had planned out rather carefully to avoid any chance of survival. It is not an easy decision to stop, even with that additional factor.
[It is worth noting that most depressed persons discount this factor, which is why reaching out to them and demonstrating caring about them is so useful in combating depressive thoughts. The point is that the lure of escape is still powerful, even with this factor in the equation.]
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Some depressed people feel worthless and feel they have nothing to offer anyone, and that those around them would be better off without them.
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R.I.P Aaron
Here's my 10 minute video interview with him from January 2010. Worth a watch: http://youtu.be/JUt5gjqNI1w
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Suicide rates for the 15-25 year olds have been increasing for years, to the point that I don't think we can just blame the kids, chemistry, or even mental health alone. Not when they are this high. Our society has become toxic.
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Thanks
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This
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Tinfoil hat time - who talked to the Feds?
What JSTOR said was they were the ones who discovered what he was doing, put a stop to it, found out who he was (apparently with help from someone else?), and settled their dispute with him in the month prior to his arrest. And they said the decision to prosecute wasn't theirs. Well of course it wasn't their decision; it's a criminal case! The government makes that decision.
Although they say they had "no interest" in it becoming an ongoing legal matter, they don't at all seem to mind at all that the Feds were pursuing the case. Perhaps they were just trying not to irritate the publishers, but to just say it was "not our decision" without saying "and we find the decision regrettable", well, it's about the same as "hey, not my problem" or "sucks to be him".
My tinfoil hat is wearing its own tinfoil hat, I admit, but it seems quite plausible that JSTOR, MIT, and/or JSTOR's publisher buddies would've gotten the ball rolling, telling the Feds "here's what we know about what he did. Do with it what you will, because we're not going to pursue it in civil court" ... if not also "so go teach that son of a bitch a lesson."
I mean, would the prosecution really have put together the initial indictment without any cooperation or claims of harm from the parties? It's possible, but I smell a rat. I think someone said "settlement is not enough... let's tell the Feds what we know, and if they want to pursue it, great. If not, oh well. Either way, 'not my problem!'"
So I want to know what prompted the Feds to press charges. How did they learn about the incident? What contact did they have with MIT and with JSTOR? What contact did JSTOR have with MIT? And were any publishers involved?
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Re: Tinfoil hat time - who talked to the Feds?
http://bigstory.ap.org/article/swartz-death-fuels-debate-over-computer-crime
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Re: Re: Tinfoil hat time - who talked to the Feds?
Not unlike how some ISP's will turn over user data to anyone who asks without a subpoena.
This really needs to stop. The whole point of having court orders is to protect you from excessive actions of rogue law enforcement. It is a right to refuse such a request until a warrant of some kind is presented.
If MIT started providing information to the Feds voluntarily - then this should not be considered a neutral stance.
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Re: Re: Tinfoil hat time - who talked to the Feds?
But that was only once they'd seen the scope of the DoJ's charges. I'm sure they were as surprised as anyone else, and tried to call off the dog so to speak. The question Ophelia has asked is who got the ball rolling in the first place?
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Re: Re: Tinfoil hat time - who talked to the Feds?
I still think they could've done more to protest it, or to at least publicly indicate their opposition, even if this meant pissing off the publishers, but I suppose no one asked.
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Re: Re: Re: Tinfoil hat time - who talked to the Feds?
Still blame because they could investigate and settle the matters themselves. In my child�s college (as in many others) the underage drinking and soft drugs are ongoing problems. Nonetheless, the college would fight tooth and nail not to hand out offenders to the police. They even don�t allow city police to patrol the campus.
But you know what happens if you hand out a student who possesses some amount of marijuana to the law enforcement: possible jail time and ruined life. In the case with Aaron the university probably did not expect the Kafkaesque consequences.
In this case it was more like calling the police in a domestic fight: in most cases policemen arrive and do what they are supposed to do: to calm down and scare the debaucher, maybe issue a $100 fine. None of the parties usually even think about pressing criminal charges.
What happened after it became clear that things turned ugly — how MIT and JSTOR behaved — is much-much more important than the fact of the initial contact with the law. JSTOR had the guts to try to call it off, while MIT authorities cowardly closed their eyes (and even kissed government�s ass by voluntarily submitting evidence). And yes, both could and should have done more.
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Waiting for the Conspriracy Theorists...
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Re: Waiting for the Conspriracy Theorists...
I wouldn't take it seriously in this instance, it only trivializes the actual tragedy that has happened.
I do feel that too many people have lost all faith in the government and I can't blame them in the very least if they look back on the very real instances of the government doing this exact same thing and extrapolate it to mean that they are continuing to do these horrible things in what seems to be a quest to destroy people's lives.
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just like dotcom...
Look at what a total farce the case against Kim Dotcom has turned into. Failures on multiple levels! But ask the average citizen... they won't know. They've been spoon fed "piracy is stealing. downloading is wrong. obey, citizen" by Hollywood for ages. That's who I blame.. that's why we have shitty bills like the CFAA in place. Hollywood influence propping up their failing business model by paying off legislators. It's absolutely disgusting.
It's no wonder businesses are setting up shop elsewhere. Our government policies are going to ruin the tech industry in the US. Most of it stemming from some rich jerks in southern California demanding that their business model be protected.
RIP Aaron. Fight the good fight, everyone. Information needs to be free.
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How to make laws that have lower rates of abuse?
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Re:
I can't think of any way to change this besides having a third party being able to have some say on court matters.
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Remembering others harassed by the Feds
Just to give you an idea of how the Feds roll - they offered his son $2.5 million and "the sports car of your choice" if he would implicate his father. They showed pictures of Anthrax victims to his daughter, telling her "your father did this". They would even follow his family while they went grocery shopping.
Note this was after the FBI claimed and then vindicated Steven Hatfill as the man responsible. They harassed him mercilessly, too, trailing him so closely in a car that they ran over his foot once. They also video taped him during a job interview at a hotel; unsurprisingly, Mr. Hatfill didn't get the job. His treatment was so egregious that we taxpayers had to compensate him to the tune of $6 million to settle his lawsuit against the FBI.
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Re: Remembering others harassed by the Feds
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Very very sad, such a brilliant mind.
Hell 26 is still a little kid in the grand scheme of things. We will never know the great things he could have accomplished for humanity.
Damn Chris Dodd in his ninja suit.
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I think there's a slight difference between a couple of teenagers "being mean on the internet" and the Federal Government of the United States using every dirty trick they can to make your life miserable, harassing you non-stop while trying to bankrupt you and put you behind bars for doing absolutely nothing wrong.
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