White House Responds To Petition About Aaron Swartz By Saying Absolutely Nothing
from the that's-a-response? dept
Soon after the unfortunate suicide of Aaron Swartz, a lot of anger was directed at Carmen Ortiz, the US Attorney who was the key figure behind the ridiculous prosecution of Swartz for daring to download too many documents (that he had legal access to, as did anyone connecting to MIT's network). Ortiz showed no concern at all that either she or her office had done anything improper in threatening Swartz with over 30 years in jail for downloading (legally) some academic papers. As a result some people set up one of those "We the People" White House petitions, asking the Obama administration to remove Ortiz from her job.This petition had no chance. Petitions are supposed to be used to get the White House to discuss or commit to policy positions. Specific personnel decisions seem way outside the scope. Besides, as bad a job as we may think Ortiz did in handling the Swartz situation, frankly, it's not the kind of thing the White House will ever come out and say directly. That's just not how it works.
Similarly, while at times the "We the People" petitions have been useful in forcing the White House's hand on things, for the most part, the administration seems to ignore most of them, even if they got the required 100,000 signatures demanding a response.
So I'm at a total loss as to why the White House suddenly decided -- two years later -- to respond to the petition to remove Ortiz from her job, and to basically say... absolutely nothing in response:
If that's the answer, why bother responding at all? Even the opening statement expressing concern for Swartz's family and friends rings hollow. While I know, for a fact, that some in the White House absolutely do understand what Swartz meant to the internet, this response is incredibly weak. Of course, even though they couldn't do anything or say anything about Ortiz, an announcement like this (two years later) could have been tied to some sort of program on internet openness, or increasing access to public domain works, or any of a number of projects and campaigns that Swartz was close to. There was no real reason to pick up this thread now, but having decided to answer the petition now, the White House certainly could have done something a lot more productive with it.Aaron Swartz's death was a tragic, unthinkable loss for his family and friends. Our sympathy continues to go out to those who were closest to him, and to the many others whose lives he touched.
We also reaffirm our belief that a spirit of openness is what makes the Internet such a powerful engine for economic growth, technological innovation, and new ideas. That's why members of the Administration continue to engage with advocates to ensure the Internet remains a free and open platform as technology continues to disrupt industries and connect our communities in ways we can't yet imagine. We will continue this engagement as we tackle new questions on key issues such as citizen participation in democracy, open access to information, privacy, intellectual property, free speech, and security.
As to the specific personnel-related requests raised in your petitions, our response must be limited. Consistent with the terms we laid out when we began We the People, we will not address agency personnel matters in a petition response, because we do not believe this is the appropriate forum in which to do so.
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Filed Under: aaron swartz, carmen ortiz, obama administration, petition, we the people, white house
Reader Comments
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If you believe this is about what the people want, I gotta bridge for sale....
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This was too little for being so late. They could have said this a long time ago. Coming this late makes this message seem like the rejection of an amnesty request delivered to the widow of an already executed death row inmate.
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I can imagine that the administration was going to just leave it without a reply but someone in the White House was able to convince somebody higher up that a response should at least be made.
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So your excuse to these thugs circumventing the democratic process is to marginalize the effects? Wow, shows what kinda person you are.
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No.
You're a complete fucking idiot.
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You're a complete fucking idiot.
Your arguments are extremely persuasive. It's hard to imagine why you haven't won the debate already.
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hah-hah
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This petition was not about a law.
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Tell that to the 100K+ people that signed the petition (and even those that didn't sign the petition such as myself) that cared. You couldn't even get a fraction of that to back your position.
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Ah, the ultimate compliment!
Yup, this is definitely, exactly the kind of thing that makes me want to be here.
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about the ONLY thing i expected, was for the 99% to have a TEENY, TINY means of redress, which would shine a spotlight on various issues, etc which concerned us 99%, NOT the superior form of citizens known as korporations...
besides, your FUD tactics are weak: whether WE DECIDE to have the jobs of various civil servants subject to a recall action DOES NOT automagically mean that EVERYTHING on the planet is thus run in the same fashion...
what kind of retarded palaver is that ? ? ?
in point of fact, numerous civil servant positions *are* subject to 'recall', it is just such a PITA, and usually dependent upon the corrupt system to police the corrupt system...
(how's *that* working out for ya' ? ? ?)
as a matter of principle, i *ALWAYS* vote 'NO' on 'should judge so-and-so be retained for another term...', since they always win by 85-95% (NO ONE knows who judge so-and-so is), i just want to lower that percentage a little to put the fear of dog in them...
we are in the beginning of the Great Unraveling...
it will not be pretty...
Empire must fall.
the sooner the fall,
the gentler for all...
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What else could be expected from the Feral Government
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So, to answer the question, ...
Turn out your lights and hide in the cellar.
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Re: So, to answer the question, ...
Biden?
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Re: Re: So, to answer the question, ...
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Fire Her & Stephen Heymann Too!
http://whowhatwhy.com/2013/01/17/carmen-ortizs-sordid-rap-sheet/
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Look what happened when someone hacked the police over their misconduct. baiting the bear works wonders for passing what would be a controversial bill that would normally never succeed
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