Anonymous hacker Aaron Swartz died January the 11th 2013 aged just 26. In his families words:
“Our beloved brother, son, friend, and partner Aaron Swartz hanged himself on Friday in his Brooklyn apartment. We are in shock, and have not yet come to terms with his passing. Aaron’s insatiable curiosity, creativity, and brilliance; his reflexive empathy and capacity for selfless, boundless love; his refusal to accept injustice as inevitable—these gifts made the world, and our lives, far brighter. We’re grateful for our time with him, to those who loved him and stood with him, and to all of those who continue his work for a better world.”
During academic year 2010–11, Swartz conducted research studies on political corruption as a Lab Fellow in Harvard University’s Edmond J. Safra Research Lab on Institutional Corruption. As a congressional intern, he helped advocate for reform of the health care system and the Federal Reserve. In 2012, Swartz used the knowledge he gained to lead an unprecedented political campaign to defeat the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA), a bill that would have undermined free speech on the internet.
On the night of January 6, 2011, Swartz was arrested near the Harvard campus by MIT police and a U.S. Secret Service agent. He was arraigned in Cambridge District Court on two state charges of breaking and entering with intent to commit a felony. Over the next year and a half, the government added multiple counts to the original charges, which saw him facing 35 years in jail. The prosecutors offered him a plea deal, to spend 6 months in prison, which he refused asserting his innocence but he was left feeling more and more trapped and scared of the federal charges and the implications for him. After several years of being threatened and deceived, and having spent his entire fortune on legal fees, he was in a depression 2 days after the prosecution declined a counter offer by Swartz he was found dead by hanging. He left no note.
His family and his partner created a memorial website on which they issued a statement saying. He used his prodigious skills as a programmer and technologist not to enrich himself but to make the Internet and the world a better place. Also adding. Aaron’s death is not simply a personal tragedy. It is the product of a criminal justice system rife with intimidation and prosecutor overreach. Decisions made by officials in the Massachusetts US attorney’s office and at MIT contributed to his death.
Justice Beyond Borders : A Global Political Theory PDF : https://cryptome.org/2013/01/aaron-swartz/019829350X.pdf
https://wikileaks.org/ : Aaron Swartz: Justice Beyond Borders January 23, 2013
Aaron Swartz Series : https://cryptome.org/aaron-swartz-series.htm
Cryptome Archive : https://cryptome.wikileaks.org/