Every time I hear interviews with government ministers pushing ill-thought out and panicked moves towards tighter internet legislation I am reminded of this quote from Aaron Swartz
Aaron Swartz made the statement, “It’s not OK not to understand the internet anymore,” in a talk he gave titled “How We Stopped SOPA“ at the F2C: Freedom to Connect conference on May 21, 2012.
Aaron Swartz was a prodigy, a self-taught programming whiz, and a passionate advocate for a free and open internet. Born in 1986, Swartz showed an early aptitude for computers and quickly became a force in the burgeoning digital world. At just 14, he helped develop RSS 1.0, a foundational technology for web feeds.
He was instrumental in the creation of Creative Commons, a non-profit that provides free legal tools for creators to share their work. Later, he contributed significantly to the development of Reddit, a social news website that became incredibly popular.
Swartz was not just a technologist; he was a firm believer in the free flow of information. He saw knowledge as a public good and tirelessly worked to make it accessible to everyone. This conviction led him to activism and to a path that would put him at odds with powerful institutions.
His most well-known act of digital civil disobedience involved the academic database JSTOR. In 2011, Swartz used MIT’s network to download millions of academic articles from JSTOR, intending to make them freely available. He believed that research funded by the public should be accessible to the public, not locked behind paywalls.
This act, while driven by a desire for open access, was deemed illegal by federal prosecutors.
Swartz was charged with multiple felonies, including wire fraud and computer fraud, facing a maximum of 35 years in prison and a $1 million fine. The prosecution pursued the case with an intensity that many found disproportionate to the alleged “crime.”
The relentless legal battle took a heavy toll on Swartz. He was an idealist who believed in the power of an open internet, and the prospect of a lengthy prison sentence for an act he saw as morally right weighed heavily on him. On January 11, 2013, at the age of 26, Aaron Swartz took his own life.
His death sparked outrage and a global conversation about copyright, intellectual property, and the potential for overzealous prosecution in the digital age. Many, including prominent figures like Lawrence Lessig, argued that the government’s pursuit of Swartz was excessive and ultimately contributed to his tragic end.