Co-founder of Reddit Aaron Swartz found dead
NEW YORK Authorities say a co-founder of Reddit and computer activist who fought to make online content free to the public has been found dead.
A spokeswoman for New York's Medical Examiner says 26-year-old Aaron Swartz hanged himself in his Brooklyn apartment. He was found Friday.
Swartz's death was confirmed by his attorney, Elliot Peters, in an email to MIT's The Tech newspaper.
"The tragic and heartbreaking information you received is, regrettably, true," Peters wrote.
Swartz, co-founder of the non-profit political action group Demand Progress, was a prodigy who as a young teenager helped create RSS. He co-founded the social news website Reddit, and directed the political action group Demand Progress that campaigns against Internet censorship.
In 2011, he was arrested in Boston and charged with stealing millions of scientific journals from a computer archive at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
Swartz pleaded not guilty. His federal trial on computer fraud charges was to begin next month. If convicted, he could have faced more than 50 years in prison and up to $4 million in fines.
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So heartbreaking. I read about him on Wikipedia before his suicide, amazed that a 14 year old could contribute so much.
I was a little jealous, how are you so smart?
Dammit, you let us down Aaron. Very few people can really make a dent in this world. You were one. Now you're gone. Dammit this hurts
BWB2020 - Tell that to Samsung which has been successfully sued by Apple Computers for billions of dollars for infringing on Apple patents...."
Just as Apple has been successfully sued for violating Samsung patents, as well as the patents of many others.
"You can call it a sham but there are laws to protect intellectual property..."
There used to be laws to protect human "property" also, just ask the descendants of Dred Scott, or just look it up.
The existence of a "law" on an issue does not legitmize the actuality of the issue.
"...As you know, when a movie or song is counterfeited, that affects the income of people in the movie or music industry..."
No, it does not.
That lie is based on the premise that those buying the counterfeits can afford the real product. The reality of that situation is that the vast majority of counterfeits and pirated products are bought by people for whom a $50 DVD represents a month's salary.
"..The same is true when movies or music is illegally downloaded..."
The so-called "lost sales opportunity" is nothing more than an unproven catchphrase, for the reason I wrote above.
"...Presumably, you don't make your living counterfeiting or downloading someone else's work..."
Correct, but I do make a good living giving my own work away occasionally for free download, then using the download figures to pitch to those who sponsor my concerts and other productions.
I occasionally get a request to perform the Beatles song "Imagine", which I improvised upon for electric bass, an instant hit, Concert promoters made specific requests for it. I used to indulge them, but it got in the way of my own works so I stopped taking requests for it.
Royalties? Eff 'em. I didn't put in the years of study and years of "paying dues" on chitlin' circuit gigs and hotel lounge "live elevator music" gigs just to pay other people to play.
You might look up the Chinese "Four Heavenly Kings", then ask yourself how the four singers can still become billionaires in China, where at least 10,000 "pirate" copies exist for every "legitimate" copy.
Still, at least this one is dead. The living ones are probably more worrisome.
Sounds like you favor stealing intellectual property. That is, as long as it isn't your property being stolen. What is the difference between stealing intellectual property and a thief robbing your apartment or home and walking off with your possessions?"
Allow me.
The difference is that you still have the intellectual idea for your use, while a material possession, once stolen, is no longer available for your use.
It could also be said that another difference is the direction of the theft. No idea is ever stolen, it is merely copied. If I build a car that looks exactly like yours in every detail, I have not stolen your car.
This "intellectual property" concept is an illusion and a scam, a ruse for the lazy to continue to be paid in perpetuity for work that was only done once, and also as a tool to block others from contributing to the course of human progress by building upon and improving existing ideas.
Your question implies that you owe royalties to the descendants of the Chinese wizard who invented the binary counting system upon which the computer you used to post is based.
Have you paid your royalties to Otto Benz, who is the true developer of the internal combustion engine, for the cars, trains, boats, and planes you use?
Do the Italians owe royalties to the Indians for Chopati (Pizza), or to the Chinese for pasta (noodles)?
Monsanto developed "franken-corn", which is an aggressive air-pollinator, then sued the owners of nearby farms whose crops were cross pollinated with their garbage, which doesn't produce fertile seed corn for the subsequent crops. Can you guess what they are planning for the world food supply?
I am a music producer, the last person one might think of as an opponent of intellectual property rights, but I an, as I know it is a scam, there are big businesses who trample those rights every minute, but no one has the bux to stop them.
In my business, the RIAA has sued "illegal" music downloaders for more than a billion dollars, but has yet to pay the actual "owners" of the music they represented in the suits one single cent.
ASCAP, BMI, and other publishing rights shakedown firms want me to pay them royalties for performing my own music if I register with them!
They didn't commit suicide that I know of. Why would this young man? Because he was what? Trying to allow the internet to be uncensored? Yesssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssss.
It's a justice which is blind to the men who hold the strings and pay the publically elected officials to bend over.
Never saw so many young men being driven over the edge by big govt. Something stinks to high heaven and it is the people who are making the decisions...lobby groups who represent them.
RIP young man.