Tell HN: Aaron Swartz died today, 8 years ago

#1

Post by ignoramous » Mon, Jan 11, 2021, 4:48 PM UTC

"Aaron is dead. Wanderers in this crazy world, we have lost a mentor, a wise elder. Hackers for right, we are one down, we have lost one of our own. Nurturers, carers, listeners, feeders, parents all, we have lost a child. Let us all weep." - Tim Berners Lee.

Thank you for everything, Aaron.

--

Discussions at the time:

1. https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=5046845

2. https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=5048820

Blog post in 2016 by Noah, Aaron's brother: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=10881413

Re: Tell HN: Aaron Swartz died today, 8 years ago

#2

Post by lucasgonze » Mon, Jan 11, 2021, 4:55 PM UTC

I have thought of him several times lately. I keep coming across his work in one form or another - some typically excellent writing on his blog, a history of Markdown explaining his key contributions.

He made so many kinds of contributions. He was the Erdos of his generation.

Re: Tell HN: Aaron Swartz died today, 8 years ago

#3

Post by perfmode » Mon, Jan 11, 2021, 5:03 PM UTC

Thanks for this reminder. Miss you Aaron.

Re: Tell HN: Aaron Swartz died today, 8 years ago

#4

Post by IncludeSecurity » Mon, Jan 11, 2021, 5:05 PM UTC

Having worked with all of the founders of SecureDrop (Aaron, James, and Kevin) to audit the alpha version it was tough to see Aaron go. Also super sad that we lost James a couple of years later too https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Dolan_(computer_security...

Cheers to everybody out there working on Internet freedom software. Thank you all for everything you do, next time you're at FOSDEM or browsing around some issues on github for your fav secure comms projects, let them know they are appreciated and they aren't doing this difficult work in a vacuum.

My .02 -Erik Cabetas-

Re: Tell HN: Aaron Swartz died today, 8 years ago

#5

Post by fsociety » Mon, Jan 11, 2021, 5:10 PM UTC

Wish you were here, RIP

Re: Tell HN: Aaron Swartz died today, 8 years ago

#6

Post by immigrantsheep » Mon, Jan 11, 2021, 5:13 PM UTC

I think about him from time to time and it still makes me incredibly sad.

Re: Tell HN: Aaron Swartz died today, 8 years ago

#7

Post by WarOnPrivacy » Mon, Jan 11, 2021, 5:14 PM UTC

Driving someone to suicide because they acted against entrenched copyright interests was one of the most DoJ moments ever.

Re: Tell HN: Aaron Swartz died today, 8 years ago

#8

Post by WarOnPrivacy » Mon, Jan 11, 2021, 5:17 PM UTC

To some degree, this is on us as well - for our failing to hold a reasonable PotUS accountable for bad Gov behavior, in a meaningful consistent way.

Re: Tell HN: Aaron Swartz died today, 8 years ago

#9

Post by newscracker » Mon, Jan 11, 2021, 5:24 PM UTC

Such a colossal loss!

If you haven't watched it, I'd recommend watching "The Internet's Own Boy: The Story of Aaron Swartz". [1] It's a bit difficult to watch it more than once or twice. It'll leave you sad and angry.

[1]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Internet%27s_Own_Boy

Re: Tell HN: Aaron Swartz died today, 8 years ago

#10

Post by cbozeman » Mon, Jan 11, 2021, 5:25 PM UTC

Although Aaron made enormous contributions to many different technologies, I often think of reddit when I think of Aaron.

I often wonder how he would feel, not just about censorship there, but about the direction the entire Internet has taken in regards to censoring of content. I can't - and wouldn't - speak for him, but I would be supremely interested in his thoughts.