Comments on: Regarding Aaron Swartz

By: Luke Arms

Luke Arms — Sun, 13 Jan 2013 23:31:07 +0000

Nick: A different slant on the same case: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/01/12/aaron-swartz_n_2463726.html

By: Luke Arms

Luke Arms — Sun, 13 Jan 2013 08:58:41 +0000

I don’t disagree (though I do think our society needs some troublemakers to hold powers-that-be accountable, and I also think legislation needs to keep up with the times), but these actions weren’t the sum of this guy’s contribution ;)

By: Nick Hanson

Nick Hanson — Sun, 13 Jan 2013 08:51:51 +0000

You know in 2008 he ran a PERL script over the PACER database and released court documents online? He got away with that one. When he did a similar grab on the JSTOR site, he used a python script.What he did was a breech of TOS, network and physical intrusion. Also when he did this, it sounds like he walked into MIT and planted a laptop and got on their network. Theres a few things I can see wrong with just that. Maybe it was a witch hunt but it was the second time he tried to ‘steal’ data. What if he stole PAN data rather than online journals? All I am saying is that the guy was not a saint, he made a bad judgement call without thinking through the consequences. He was a brilliant young man who co wrote the RSS spec and Reddit (one of the sites I follow) but he shouldn’t have done what he did.

By: Luke Arms

Luke Arms — Sun, 13 Jan 2013 06:18:16 +0000

A few thoughts on that, Nick:

(a) The SMH is part of the machine that hates Aaron Swartz and his comrades, and their obituary isn’t exactly comprehensive (I looked it up after you mentioned it).

(b) Yes, he committed a crime, or as some like to call it, an act of civil disobedience. But there were issues with the [dis]proportionality of the charges laid, and the whole story plays a lot more like a witch-hunt than a straightforward criminal case.

(c) There’s a lot more to Aaron Swartz’s activism than this latest case. Heard of SOPA? That totally involved corporations ;)

By: Nick Hanson

Nick Hanson — Sun, 13 Jan 2013 03:51:07 +0000

I am not seeing anything to do with large corporations etc. It sounds like he committed an IT crime and he didn’t realise there are consequences. “He was due to go on trial within weeks over the accusations he stole the scientific journal articles, in a bid to make them available for free.” (SMH). The guy was a genius and it is sad that he did what he did, but he was accused of commiting a crime. His cause may have been noble but it was still a crime. “He broke into the networks of nearby MIT to pull the materials” (nymag). What if these network vulnerabilities can be used to perform other crimes?

By: Melissa Stace

Melissa Stace — Sun, 13 Jan 2013 03:20:08 +0000

its very sad isnt it