Aaron's death unfortunately will remain a big loss for our civilization progress towards freedom of information. While we know the secret service took over this case, and we know the type of things the secret services are trained to do (eliminate people among other things), it astonishes me that people take it for granted that Aaron actually chose to take his own life.
An activist that refuses a plea bargain and who gets unjustly prosecuted becomes an instant hero... Think Nelson Mandela, Tim deChristopher etc... Their cause takes a new dimension and lives stronger so long as they don't take their own life. The government was aware that when Aaron rejected the plea bargain, they had an issue. A very serious one indeed. The only choice remaining was to make him look like a weak and depressed young hacker who couldn't take responsibility for his acts of "vandalism" and who took his own life. This is how mainstream media basically portrayed him.
Now, outside of the geek-activist world, no one remembers him or even knows who he was. If they do, they just think... Oh that smart-ass who thought he could change the world by act of digital vandalism but who didn't know stealing is stealing? Sad but someone as courageous as Aaron needs to step up to the plate despite the risks involved... who's willing to do it? Very very few people. If you do, make sure you publicly declare on Fb, Twitter, and your blog that you are not going to commit suicide. May not help obviously if you die in an accident...
Information secrecy is highly valued by the powers that be, so no activist should underestimate this fact and take the huge risk of acting solo like Aaron did. A group is much harder to attack that one key figure. Good luck people... I for myself, prefer to let civilization shape itself one person at a time. It's a long process compared to hacktivism, but at least it will cost no lives (yes, call me a coward, I'm no Aaron Swartz).
Once Elon Musk sends his fleet of internet satellites up there, and we get high speed internet without wires, and that every Tesla on the road becomes part of a mesh network, and every Tesla super station also act as a powerful broadcasting hub, we'll do away with big telecoms.
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Re:
Aaron's death unfortunately will remain a big loss for our civilization progress towards freedom of information. While we know the secret service took over this case, and we know the type of things the secret services are trained to do (eliminate people among other things), it astonishes me that people take it for granted that Aaron actually chose to take his own life.
An activist that refuses a plea bargain and who gets unjustly prosecuted becomes an instant hero... Think Nelson Mandela, Tim deChristopher etc... Their cause takes a new dimension and lives stronger so long as they don't take their own life. The government was aware that when Aaron rejected the plea bargain, they had an issue. A very serious one indeed. The only choice remaining was to make him look like a weak and depressed young hacker who couldn't take responsibility for his acts of "vandalism" and who took his own life. This is how mainstream media basically portrayed him.
Now, outside of the geek-activist world, no one remembers him or even knows who he was. If they do, they just think... Oh that smart-ass who thought he could change the world by act of digital vandalism but who didn't know stealing is stealing? Sad but someone as courageous as Aaron needs to step up to the plate despite the risks involved... who's willing to do it? Very very few people. If you do, make sure you publicly declare on Fb, Twitter, and your blog that you are not going to commit suicide. May not help obviously if you die in an accident...
Information secrecy is highly valued by the powers that be, so no activist should underestimate this fact and take the huge risk of acting solo like Aaron did. A group is much harder to attack that one key figure. Good luck people... I for myself, prefer to let civilization shape itself one person at a time. It's a long process compared to hacktivism, but at least it will cost no lives (yes, call me a coward, I'm no Aaron Swartz).
Once Elon Musk sends his fleet of internet satellites up there, and we get high speed internet without wires, and that every Tesla on the road becomes part of a mesh network, and every Tesla super station also act as a powerful broadcasting hub, we'll do away with big telecoms.