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The Darker Side of Aaron Swartz (2013)

newyorker.com

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Re: The Darker Side of Aaron Swartz (2013)

#51

Post by boppo1 »

Mikhail_K wrote: post #44
honkdaddy wrote: post #7

Refreshingly well-researched and honest piece from the New Yorker. My favourite writing by Aaron is his explanation of what happens in the "ending" of Infinite Jest. [1] I'm of the opinion DFW deliberately left it somewhat open to interpretation, and that his famous quote "If no such convergence or projection occurred to you, then the book’s failed for you" was a tad tongue in cheek. That said, Aaron's explanation is…

> Refreshingly well-researched and honest piece from the New Yorker. My impression is quite the opposite. This piece by Larissa MacFarquhart was a contemptible whitewash of government bullies. "New Yorker" is squarely in the corner of intelligence agencies and law enforcement and against the people, and not just in this particular case.

Aww New Yorker is one of the few outlets I still like. Do you have examples?

Re: The Darker Side of Aaron Swartz (2013)

#52

Post by GhettoComputers »

cryptica wrote: post #26

It's sad how the system punishes smart altruists. If you're smart, you'd better be evil or the system will destroy you.

Where did you get that idea from the article?

Altruism isn’t a fantasy like Robin Hood, there’s a way to do it correctly; it’s why Aaron was interested in policy. Dumb altruists are in a worst position, and giving out free information from the internet doesn’t affect libgen. Aaron was a dumb altruist in the way he didn’t just listen about how to download JSTOR articles.

Re: The Darker Side of Aaron Swartz (2013)

#53

Post by ModernMech »

senko wrote: post #47
tiahura wrote: post #43

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Persecution? He broke the law and was likely to get a slap on the wrist.

> he was facing 13 felony charges and up to 50 years in prison[0] Pretty hard slap, that. [0] https://www.rollingstone.com/politics/politics-news/why-did-...

The article says they offered a 6 month jail time plea bargain though. It sounds like from his own writing that he was cognizant of the fact he broke the law, but didn’t agree the law should have been a law in the first place. It also sounds like he didn’t really expect there would be any consequences whatsoever.

Look at this from the prosecutors point of view. They have hard evidence of a crime. They have evidence of consciousness of guilt from the perpetrator. It’s a slam dunk at trial so why should it get to that point? It’s a waste of everyone’s time and money. That’s why the plea deal was so generous compared to the downside of taking it to court. You want to entice them to take a slap on the wrist plea deal so everyone can avoid the cost of forestalling the eventuality of the jury’s verdict.

It’s true that prosecutors can be overzealous in their prosecutions, but 6 months does not sound like the disproportionate punishment many make it out to be.

Re: The Darker Side of Aaron Swartz (2013)

#54

Post by skinnymuch »

tiahura wrote: post #50
mkr-hn wrote: post #48

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Says who? He didn't get to have a trial to determine this because the prosecutor backed him into a corner with threats of excessive punishment.

Says the judge when you admit to what you did and plead. He’s the same one that gave Lori Laughlin and Mossimo 6 months in minimum security “camp” and not the bazillion years the prosecutor originally threatened.

Are you talking about the famous wealthy upper class and status people with your example?

Not sure if you genuinely believe justice is blind. Something that has never been true.

Re: The Darker Side of Aaron Swartz (2013)

#55

Post by rfrey »

tonguez wrote: post #39
pm90 wrote: post #33

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Or, possibly, Hacker News doesn't represent hacker culture, but finance-adjacent right-wing techbro culture, which knows perfectly well which side of the copyright issue its bread is buttered on. Spot on. I like HN for certain topics, but it’s by no means representative of the Hacker culture. Even the name seems like duplicitous marketing at best. As an example, the topic of immigration will bring out the nastiest…

Actually the opposite is true here; if you talk about certain data which is considered "bad", like crime statistics, your post will be shadowbanned because it's considered wrongthink (or as you might put it, "straight up racism"), just like Twitter.

I challenge you to show me a case where mere presentation of statistics led to a ban, shadow or otherwise.

More likely the "raising of a statistic" was accompanied by a first-order explanation of the number that, besides being trite and lazy, was also "blatantly racist". But it wasn't the statistic that did the job.

Re: The Darker Side of Aaron Swartz (2013)

#56

Post by pipeline_peak »

"His girlfriend Taren always dealt with taxi-drivers, with waitresses."

"The guy in front of me’s leaning all the way back, but I’m in the last row so my seat doesn’t go back, and I have to lift my legs up to stretch out a muscle that was sitting funny while I was asleep"

I feel like Aaron Swartz was never truly an adult, just a boyish intellectual. I can't imagine his submissive behavior was a net positive to his mental health.

Re: The Darker Side of Aaron Swartz (2013)

#57

Post by skinnymuch »

ModernMech wrote: post #53
senko wrote: post #47

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> he was facing 13 felony charges and up to 50 years in prison[0] Pretty hard slap, that. [0] https://www.rollingstone.com/politics/politics-news/why-did-...

The article says they offered a 6 month jail time plea bargain though. It sounds like from his own writing that he was cognizant of the fact he broke the law, but didn’t agree the law should have been a law in the first place. It also sounds like he didn’t really expect there would be any consequences whatsoever. Look at this from the prosecutors point of view. They have hard evidence of a crime. They have evidence o…

The statement is made by the prosecutor though. They could be saying the truth. It is a very biased person’s word to go off though.

Re: The Darker Side of Aaron Swartz (2013)

#58

Post by GhettoComputers »

photochemsyn wrote: post #18

This article carefully avoids any analysis of the reasons why MIT chose to persecute Aaron Swartz. Here's a quick take on the actual situation, off the top of my head: "The Darker Side of MIT and the Academic Publishing Industry" While the Internet has been hailed from its inception as a tool that would open up access to information for the whole world, the reality has not matched that expectation. Much of the most i…

Hasn’t it always been corporate interests in academia? Stanford was a joke when it was founded, MIT was being petitioned into becoming a tech school. Patrons of sciences have always been funded by private interests, there isn’t any corruption.

> This 'public-private' partnership situation has corrupted American academics, placing the profitability of research well ahead of the accuracy and reliability of research.

Private profitability research is no different. I don’t understand what you mean by losing accuracy, for some research corporate hardware or copyrighted work is required or the best choice.

I thought they gave the ability for other pharma to make the mRNA drugs that require incredible investment, to make it seem open.

Most of the information we mentioned is out there now. But it’s much more fun watching tiktoks and liking posts.

Re: The Darker Side of Aaron Swartz (2013)

#59

Post by tiahura »

skinnymuch wrote: post #54
tiahura wrote: post #50

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Says the judge when you admit to what you did and plead. He’s the same one that gave Lori Laughlin and Mossimo 6 months in minimum security “camp” and not the bazillion years the prosecutor originally threatened.

Are you talking about the famous wealthy upper class and status people with your example? Not sure if you genuinely believe justice is blind. Something that has never been true.

Blind to what? He was guilty.

White boys don’t do hard time for hiding in the closet to copy the library’s computer.

The judge appears to be a conservative old navy man. I haven’t dealt with him, but I think I’ve been in front of the type. Trial would go something like this: On the morning of day 3, so before the second day of testimony, the judge calls the attorneys into chambers and lays into them, sometimes loud enough for half the courthouse to hear, for wasting everyone’s time on such a stupid case, and that the prosecutor better have really good evidence of hard damages otherwise he’s going to be pissed. And then you go out, talk to your clients, and settle.

Re: The Darker Side of Aaron Swartz (2013)

#60

Post by [deleted] »

stathibus wrote: post #37
santoshalper wrote: post #32

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Or maybe he was right and most activism is emotionally driven rather than rational or data driven, and is ultimately ineffective.

Swartz was a rare breed of what I think of as real activism. Self-proclaimed activists these days have no skin in the game and don't go further than signal boosting. To really make a difference you have to get burned; most people don't have the guts.

[deleted]
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