Aaron Swartz, who cofounded Reddit, committed suicide on
January 11th, 2013. It his
highly suspected that Swartz’s prosecution for stealing articles on JSTOR
contributed to his suicide.
An article by Kate Knibbs called “Was Aaron Swartz’s Data Activism Ethical?” explores this topic very
carefully. From what I gather Swartz’s action was an act of civil disobedience
if anything. The goal of stealing the JSTOR database for Swartz’s was to make
academic journals readily available to anyone.
This case represents a basic problem among the Internet
today. Who decides who gets access to what on the Internet? Through Swartz’s
actions we can reach a basic answer. Anybody should have access to the
resources of the Internet. JSTOR, for example is only available to small
selection of people. By releasing JSTOR articles to the general public, he is
allowing for a much wider range of people to take advantage of this resource.
As time begins to pass I believe Swartz’s actions will be
seen in a more positive light. What Swartz has done for the Internet is
massively important. BY copying articles from JSTOR, Swartz is continuing to
make progress towards making resources available for the everyday person. While
Swartz may be long deceased his actions will be remembered forever.
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