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Official Statement from the family and partner of Aaron Swartz

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Re: Official Statement from the family and partner of Aaron Swartz

#91

Post by FireBeyond »

sonabinu wrote: post #79

The Washington Post calls him an American Hero ... he was one, wasn't he? http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/wonkblog/wp/2013/01/12/a...

At the risk of antagonizing an upset crowd - to me, no, he wasn't.

A hero is someone admired for courage and/or other noble qualities.

It's also a word greatly overused in culture today.

Swartz was accomplished, certainly. Though to me "co-founded the website reddit.com, co-wrote one of many specifications for syndicating content and repeatedly hacked and trespassed to download content to which he was not authorized" does not a hero make.

Re: Official Statement from the family and partner of Aaron Swartz

#92

Post by OGinparadise »

"Decisions made by officials in the Massachusetts U.S. Attorney’s office and at MIT contributed to his death...The US Attorney’s office pursued an exceptionally harsh array of charges, carrying potentially over 30 years in prison, to punish an alleged crime that had no victims."

It's nothing personal, just business. They use these cases to run for higher office by "being tough on crime" and other nauseating BS.

Re: Official Statement from the family and partner of Aaron Swartz

#93

Post by Evbn »

mhartl wrote: post #17
toyg wrote: post #4

Fuck 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.

I'm reminded of the time MIT threw Star Simpson under a bus when she wore a breadboard on a sweatshirt to Logan Airport and the local authorities freaked: http://tech.mit.edu/V127/N40/simpson.html At least some faculty got it: http://tech.mit.edu/V128/N17/facultyopn.html

Wow. Brandishing submachine gins sound more reckless than brandishing an LED.

That fellow Pare seems awfully proud of himself for not accidentally murdering an innocent citizen.

When exactly did MIT first jump the shark? It wasn't like this 15 years ago.

Re: Official Statement from the family and partner of Aaron Swartz

#94

Post by Evbn »

rdl wrote: post #54
wololo wrote: post #22

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What changed?

There was a big shift in the 70s and 80s to a bigger administration and to administrators who were "professional university administrators" (BU/random liberal arts alumni with a mssters in admin), vs. students/alumni/faculty. This was a product of a greater "in loco parentis" and services available for students, as well as bigger government grants (requiring more admins on that side) It correlated with the downfall o…

In loco parentis wasn't the problem. There was a time when the MIT president would bail students out of jail in loco parentis. The rest of your comment is on target though.

Re: Official Statement from the family and partner of Aaron Swartz

#95

Post by Evbn »

duaneb wrote: post #34
wololo wrote: post #22

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What changed?

He's being hyperbolic; MIT is still a very friendly hacker school. Aaron DID break the law, and I would not expect ANY school to stand behind him when he blatantly violated the law. It's pretty simple: don't break the law, much less using MIT resources to do so. That said, they could have handled it with a lot more finesse, especially when it is such horrible publicity for them. I suspect this has more to do with eag…

Yeah, what do academics have to say about law, government, management, or medicine, anyway? These important fields should be left to professionals, why are schools sticking their noses in?

Re: Official Statement from the family and partner of Aaron Swartz

#96

Post by Evbn »

sadfasdf wrote: post #85

This is the state of America, a kid with a laptop will go to jail for 30 + years and a banker cunt that stole billions or laundered billions for drug cartels gets nothing. How sad it all is.

They don't get nothing; they get millions of dollars.

Re: Official Statement from the family and partner of Aaron Swartz

#98

Post by Evbn »

jxi wrote: post #60
stesch wrote: post #12

tumblr.com gets autobanned on reddit. sigh

Is reddit censoring posts or something? I don't understand why I don't see a single post about Aaron on my front page.

There are a few posts. Reddit had a broader topic and voting base that HN though.

Re: Official Statement from the family and partner of Aaron Swartz

#100

Post by duaneb »

Evbn wrote: post #95
duaneb wrote: post #34

Earlier quoted context omitted.

He's being hyperbolic; MIT is still a very friendly hacker school. Aaron DID break the law, and I would not expect ANY school to stand behind him when he blatantly violated the law. It's pretty simple: don't break the law, much less using MIT resources to do so. That said, they could have handled it with a lot more finesse, especially when it is such horrible publicity for them. I suspect this has more to do with eag…

Yeah, what do academics have to say about law, government, management, or medicine, anyway? These important fields should be left to professionals, why are schools sticking their noses in?

> Yeah, what do academics have to say about law, government, management, or medicine, anyway? These important fields should be left to professionals, why are schools sticking their noses in?

You misunderstand me. Of course, you are correct, but it's not the role of the school to be political, but instead to inform their students on how to be political. When people choose a school to go to, it should be about their academics and should not be swayed by politics. (Of course, politics always creeps in, which is why I'm never going to give one of my alma maters and money.)

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