Aaron Swartz, the boy chased by doing magic

Set was the magic that Aaron Swartz learned to do and which fascinated during his short life, also what would be pursued. This is a brief history of what you did and the weight of the power he lunged

Aaron showed from an early age, not be a normal kid.; in fact, be a very quirky, unique and genius. His curiosity and intelligence would lead him to stand out from the rest of the guys, live a different life, create outstanding things; indeed, few people succeed in their professional life involved in projects with much relevance in today’s world. However, this same cost be a lonely, misunderstood, even awkward boy and, therefore, its existence would be marked by long periods of isolation, with diaries that told of his loneliness and suicide notes long before carried out the act of suicide.

Speaking of Aaron Swartz there will always be three constants: was always too young for all that he did, clear even to die; also sensitivity exceeded its genius and therefore was in face with many of the structures in this world; and finally, he refers to a stage of the Internet never be the same.

26 years

January 11 2013 the world of the death of Aaron Swartz found out. He was described as a programmer and developer who had legal problems, which could have hung accusations acarrearle to 50 years in prison. Attention own outside fell on the news, in the young prodigy who was bordered a suicide by the pressure of the charges, the sentence could reach not win the case; but also set off a wave of opinions and accusations to those plaintiffs institutions and the government for its excessive persecution of a crime, frowned, it seemed smaller and well cared for policy issues that are not worth the life of any man.

“The people in government do not understand what the Internet is.”

Also, the death of Aaron Swartz demonstrated, once again, the weight of the generational transition in an age where digital natives innovate and old structures are still in power. And this is one of the important points in history, because, to understand what is Internet culture, its composition, the people behind that regulations must be reaching innovation of a flexible, non-destructive closed; represents the health of that culture, companies, services and platforms that did not exist but should, and inevitably, there. But this was not true then and still seems far that stage.

Wikipedia and Change.org?

Aaron Swartz was fortunate to be born into a family that knew him forever, and learned to distinguish, which should be treated specially because it was a child that he began reading at 3 years on their own schedule and before reaching 10. His father, Robert, is the founder of a software company, so at home I had the material resources and motivation to make “magic”. That magic that is programmed and do things you want to spend, spend and want. That magic that surprised to Aaron and his own brothers, who approach the Internet in those early stages in which everything is built to penalties.

That’s how Aaron did the idea and the first foundations of a kind Wikipedia seeking the participation of people to enrich the articles. This idea was rejected by a master of Aaron and was forgotten on a computer in the basement of the house Swartz. The same fate befell watchdog.net, a platform designed by Aaron with similar characteristics to those of Change.org. With this we can understand two things, that Aaron Swartz was minds of those who understood the scope of the culture of the Internet, their mental limits in doing “magic” was far or non-existent; and, as always, not just about having a great idea to create something, but perseverance will and action that makes a difference.

White Diet

No soft but white. Friends and acquaintances of Aaron Swartz has said on several occasions the impact of knowing that child genius in person, to see him involved in important projects from 14 years coauthored the RSS Specifications, He became a member of the W3C RDF Core Working Group. He co-designed the formatting language Markdown with John Gruber, same as in this article that is made, for example. helped design code licenses Creative Commons, developed the system architecture Open Library. Later he founded Infogami, a company which merged with Reddit and would later be acquired by Condé Nast. He also was an important moral voice and piece veto the bill SOPA .

During all these activities, and as we said at the beginning: a very early age, Aaron surprised to get involved in so many projects that are now part of everyday life for many and very important to the culture of the Internet; also they surprised because they saw him eat things that were always white or very light colored, bread, yogurt, jellies, etc. This, besides being an eccentricity, was because Aaron was suffering, too early, of ulcerative colitis. Even this disease is related to its long bouts of depression.

JSTOR

In the documentary The Internet Boy’s Own: The Story of Aaron Swartz account in detail the legal problems that acorralaría this guy, and which you could convict 50 years in prison and a fine of $ 4 million. At first he presented four charges, but later joined by nine others, it ie a total of thirteen charges. This demonstrated the unbridled persecution and focused on leaving a “precedent” in the case of Aaron.

“Aaron dead. World wanderers, we have lost a wise. Hackers fighting for the right thing, we lost one. Parents, we have lost a child. Cry. “- Tim Berners Lee

What did Aaron was downloaded from JSTOR, the popular digital library where scientific and academic publications are housed, hundreds of items. He did through a MIT server and this would cost those penalties mentioned. First, Aaron already had a precedent in these matters; Years before, in 2008 he conducted a script performing systematized downloads data base PACER (Public Access to Court Electronic Records), heeding the call of the Carl Malamud to release that information is restricted, but it was free download in 17 public libraries. Aaron downloaded the 20% file PACER and though what he did was not “banned” I was not in the plans of government regulations of this information.

With this, Aaron the appalling precedent that would generate many problems when he tried to do the same with JSTOR won, although the latter is uncertain, no one knows for sure how intent Aaron unloaded all those items. In fact, the way it did seem casual to some extent, as he left his computer at MIT connected and constantly going to verify continue in action. It is this very thing which accuses the authorities of an attempt to catch and worsen their legal status, first because they discovered the computer and decided to disconnect before cameras to show Aaron. In addition, MIT has been harshly criticized for its “neutral” to this case, despite being known its tradition of breaking rules, a position which promotes and identifies the institution. Also weighing JSTOR position for its passivity and stay out in the clear abuse of power against Aaron

“A taxation”

The case of Aaron Swartz has been thoroughly analyzed and again blame soar everywhere, to tax, to the family, institutions, their partners, anyway. But certainly it does not change the fact that this boy genius drove him saying “feel his existence as an imposition on the world” to end his life. Perhaps this legal problem was the catapult for him for that last act, or the disastrous sum this bitter persecution for misdemeanor a series of problems in his personality and his fragile emotional stability that always He was compromised by everyday life, by the overwhelming reality for sensitive and visionary beings who usually do not find their place in the world. Either way there is no moral justification for the overwhelming advanced against Aaron and inaction of the institutions that could have stopped the end of this guy.