> Decisions made by officials in the Massachusetts U.S. Attorney’s office and at MIT contributed to his death. Damning
Is anyone reminded of Alan Turing?
Official Statement from the family and partner of Aaron Swartz
21–30 of 149 posts
Re: Official Statement from the family and partner of Aaron Swartz
#22Fuck yes, make them bleed. I can understand a US Attorney being reckless, but I cannot believe MIT would act so cowardly. If not even hacker-friendly institutions like MIT will side with people like Aaron, it's a sad state of affairs.
> If not even hacker-friendly institutions like MIT will side with people like Aaron, it's a sad state of affairs. MIT hasn't been a hacker-friendly institution since the early 1980s which is why Richard Stallman left MIT to found the free software movement.
What changed?
Re: Official Statement from the family and partner of Aaron Swartz
#23tumblr.com gets autobanned on reddit. sigh
Huh? You mean by vote?
No. Every post with a tumblr.com link gets automatically banned.
A week ago I posted something to a subreddit I've founded and it got banned. This spam filter isn't even allowing moderators to post these links. But I was allowed to unban it.
So, I wrote to the moderators of /r/technology a few minutes ago and instead of unbanning it they said that tumblr.com is banned reddit wide. No, he hasn't unbanned the link. :-(
Re: Official Statement from the family and partner of Aaron Swartz
#24I've been thinking about the family today, and what might have caused Aaron to make such a terrible decision. One thing that caught my attention, was Lessig's comment in his post:
" ... Aaron Swartz be labeled a “felon.” For in the 18 months of negotiations, that was what he was not willing to accept, and so that was the reason he was facing a million dollar trial in April — his wealth bled dry, yet unable to appeal openly to us for the financial help he needed to fund his defense, at least without risking the ire of a district court judge."
So - MIT brings in the Feds, the Government threaten him with 30+ years of Prison, somehow there is no way for him to appeal to the public for support for his lawsuit (which would have been very popular, I'm certain).
Does he try and look to his family to liquidate everything they have to help support his defense? Does he plead out to something that he truly believed was not wrong?
I can't even imagine how horrible this situation must have been for him, and why he couldn't see how he was going to get out of it...
Re: Official Statement from the family and partner of Aaron Swartz
#25Earlier quoted context omitted.
This is clearly out of my purview, but why in the world would you have an institution as a beneficiary unless it's one you control? Are they really that accomplished at brainwashing people?
Not that it is any of your business but because I have no children and the education of future generations is about the most important thing there is to me. What is important to you? Thanks for trolling me. I will try and make your contribution positive by reminding readers that if they lack a will with benefactors or executors with real world power, the state generally takes everything often ignoring legal documents…
"Not that it is any of your business"
If you don't want people to read and comment on something, maybe don't bring it up to them, hm? It's not trolling to continue a conversation about your will that you began.
Also, shaming someone for asking a reasonable question with "I will try and make your contribution positive" seemed deliberately offensive. It's not clear to me why you lashed out at that person as though they were prying into a private matter, when you opened the discussion on it.
Re: Official Statement from the family and partner of Aaron Swartz
#26> Decisions made by officials in the Massachusetts U.S. Attorney’s office and at MIT contributed to his death. Damning
Is anyone reminded of Alan Turing?
Without any disrepect to Aaron's memory (very sad news), no.
Interested to hear what reminded you, but Turing committed suicide based on an unjust persecution of a minority by society as a whole. While Aaron's situation also involved injustice, I hadn't (and probably wouldn't) link the two.
Re: Official Statement from the family and partner of Aaron Swartz
#27I am removing MIT as a benefactor from my will and ceasing donations to the alumni association. I will not reconsider until the institution provides a full accounting and takes responsibility for the actions of its legal counsel in deciding to refer the matter to federal authorities. If you are a current member of the student body or faculty you have a lot more power than me. Please read about this matter and learn w…
I just wrote an email to admissions@mit.edu indicating that I will dissuade my children from attending, and that I will bring up this matter repeatedly throughout my life to dissuade others as well. Being an "innocent bystander" is not true innocence.
Re: Official Statement from the family and partner of Aaron Swartz
#28Earlier quoted context omitted.
Is anyone reminded of Alan Turing?
Without any disrepect to Aaron's memory (very sad news), no. Interested to hear what reminded you, but Turing committed suicide based on an unjust persecution of a minority by society as a whole. While Aaron's situation also involved injustice, I hadn't (and probably wouldn't) link the two.
Did you not feel like his death was the result of authority pushing a him into a corner? Wasn't Turing persecuted by authority as well? Two brilliant tech minds lost before their time.
Re: Official Statement from the family and partner of Aaron Swartz
#29Earlier quoted context omitted.
Not that it is any of your business but because I have no children and the education of future generations is about the most important thing there is to me. What is important to you? Thanks for trolling me. I will try and make your contribution positive by reminding readers that if they lack a will with benefactors or executors with real world power, the state generally takes everything often ignoring legal documents…
"Not that it is any of your business" If you don't want people to read and comment on something, maybe don't bring it up to them, hm? It's not trolling to continue a conversation about your will that you began. Also, shaming someone for asking a reasonable question with "I will try and make your contribution positive" seemed deliberately offensive. It's not clear to me why you lashed out at that person as though they…
I would agree with your comment except that seiji used the derogatory term, "brainwash," to refer to an activity that shawn-butler clearly chose to participate in. This frames the conversation in a very negative light (it was quite unnecessary), and it's not surprising that shawn-butler's response was not entirely positive. I thought the reply showed appropriate restraint.
Re: Official Statement from the family and partner of Aaron Swartz
#30I am removing MIT as a benefactor from my will and ceasing donations to the alumni association. I will not reconsider until the institution provides a full accounting and takes responsibility for the actions of its legal counsel in deciding to refer the matter to federal authorities. If you are a current member of the student body or faculty you have a lot more power than me. Please read about this matter and learn w…
For what it's worth, if you're looking for another place to put your money, Aaron appreciated the work that Givewell (givewell.org) is doing. It's worth investigating how you can support them and the charities they endorse.