<font color="#330099"><font><font face="arial,helvetica,sans-serif"><font>Indeed a sad time on the passing of an inspiring<font>, </font>incredi<font>ble person who had cou<font>rageously </font>achieved what many at <font>th<font>at <font>tender </font>age wouldn<font>t have. Sad he has passed on<font> when <font>the vibrant internet co<font>nstituency</font> is working hard to fight for free <font>internet</font>.<br>
<br><font>RIP A<font>aron Schwartz and thank you for what you were able to achieve.<br><font><a href="http://edition.cnn.com/2013/01/12/us/new-york-reddit-founder-suicide/index.html">http://edition.cnn.com/2013/01/12/us/new-york-reddit-founder-suicide/index.html</a></font><br>
<br><font>Gideon Rop,<br>DotConnectAfrica<br></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font><br><div class="gmail_quote">On Sat, Jan 12, 2013 at 11:44 PM, Ian Peter <span dir="ltr"><<a href="mailto:ian.peter@ianpeter.com" target="_blank">ian.peter@ianpeter.com</a>></span> wrote:<br>
<blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0 0 0 .8ex;border-left:1px #ccc solid;padding-left:1ex">
<div dir="ltr">
<div dir="ltr">
<div style="font-size:12pt;font-family:'Calibri'">
<div>I am posting below a few links reporting on the sad death by suicide of
young Internet activist, Aaron Schwatrz. Aaron was a complex figure who
made very substantial contributions to the Internet, including the initial RSS
specification, Reddit, and the founding of Creative Commons, and who
suffered from depression. Cory Doctorow reports on that here.</div>
<div> </div>
<div><a title="http://boingboing.net/2013/01/12/rip-aaron-swartz.html" href="http://boingboing.net/2013/01/12/rip-aaron-swartz.html" target="_blank">http://boingboing.net/2013/01/12/rip-aaron-swartz.html</a></div>
<div> </div>
<div> </div>
<div>Aaron had been indicted in US for 13 counts of felony, and faced a long
imprisonment term, for releasing articles from academic journals to the public
domain. Last September, Tim Berners-Lee commented on the severity of these
charges as follows</div>
<div> </div>
<div><a title="http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2012/09/feds-go-overboard-in-prosecuting-information-activist/" href="http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2012/09/feds-go-overboard-in-prosecuting-information-activist/" target="_blank">http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2012/09/feds-go-overboard-in-prosecuting-information-activist/</a></div>
<div> </div>
<div>And in recent hours Electronic Frontier Foundation has posted the
following</div>
<div><span><font color="#333333" face="Tahoma"></font></span> </div>
<div><span><font style="BACKGROUND-COLOR:#f1f2f6" color="#333333" face="Tahoma"></font></span> </div>
<div><a title="https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2013/01/farewell-aaron-swartz" href="https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2013/01/farewell-aaron-swartz" target="_blank">https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2013/01/farewell-aaron-swartz</a></div>
<div><span><font face="Lucida Sans Unicode"><font style="FONT-SIZE:10.5pt"></font></font></span> </div>
<div><span><font face="Lucida Sans Unicode"><font style="FONT-SIZE:10.5pt"></font></font></span> </div>
<div><span><font face="Lucida Sans Unicode"><font style="FONT-SIZE:10.5pt">“Moreover, the
situation Aaron found himself in highlights the injustice of U.S. computer crime
laws, and particularly their punishment regimes. Aaron's act was undoubtedly
political activism, and taking such an act in the physical world would, at most,
have a meant he faced light penalties akin to trespassing as part of a political
protest. Because he used a computer, he instead faced long-term
incarceration.</font><span><font style="FONT-SIZE:10.5pt"> “</font></span></font></span></div>
<div><span><font face="Lucida Sans Unicode"><span></span></font></span> </div>
<div><span><font face="Lucida Sans Unicode"><span>This is a sad time.
Although the laws are not directly responsible for his death, It is very sad
that an already complex person of great individual brilliance found his life
further complicated by reactive laws. </span></font></span></div>
<div><span><font face="Lucida Sans Unicode"><span></span></font></span> </div>
<div><span><font face="Lucida Sans Unicode"><span>Thank you Aaron
Schwartz for your contribution to the Internet and to internet
freedom.</span></font></span></div><span class="HOEnZb"><font color="#888888">
<div> </div>
<div>Ian Peter</div></font></span></div></div></div>
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<br></blockquote></div><br>