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January 21, 2013

Internet Freedom Activist Aaron Swartz Remembered at Public Memorial 
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Hundreds of people gathered in New York City on Saturday for a public
memorial service honoring Aaron Swartz, the Internet freedom activist
who took his own life earlier this month. Swartz was weeks before a
trial date for downloading millions of articles provided by the
nonprofit research service JSTOR. He was facing 35 years in prison, a
penalty supporters called excessively harsh. At the memorial, Aaron
Swartz's partner, Taren Stinebrickner-Kauffman, called for prosecutors
to be held accountable.

Taren Stinebrickner-Kauffman: "Last Friday, he faced the prospect of yet
another three months of uncertainty and ups and downs and being forced
by the government to spend every fiber of his being on this damnable,
senseless trial, with no guarantee that he could exonerate himself at
the end of it. He was so scared and so frustrated and so desperate and,
more than anything else, just so weary. I think he just couldn't take it
another day. ... Aaron would have loved to have been here, because out
of the last week and out of today phoenixes are already rising from his
ashes. The best possible legacy for him is for all of us to go out from
here today and do everything we can to make the world a better place. A
thousand flowers are blooming in his name already. Some of the most
important that we'll be fighting for, David Segal and many others of us
are organizing around. The U.S. attorney's office must be held
accountable for its actions."

 

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