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<h1>Revealed: Aaron Swartz prosecutor 'drove another hacker to
suicide in 2008 after he named him in a cyber crime case' <br>
</h1>
<ul>
<li style="font-weight: bold;"><font style="font-size: 1.4em;">Jonathan
James committed suicide two weeks after Secret Service
raided his home in a case led by U.S. attorney Stephen
Heymann <br>
</font></li>
<li style="font-weight: bold;"><font style="font-size: 1.4em;">Internet
activist Swartz, 26, committed suicide on January 11 at his
Brooklyn home as he faced 30 years in jail</font></li>
<li style="font-weight: bold;"><font style="font-size: 1.4em;">Prosecutors
turned down Swartz's lawyer over plea deal on January 9 </font></li>
<li style="font-weight: bold;"><font style="font-size: 1.4em;">Internet
activist faced decades in prison over hacking charges </font><font
style="font-size: 1.4em;"> for allegedly downloading more
than four million academic journals <br>
</font></li>
<li style="font-weight: bold;"><font style="font-size: 1.4em;">Hundreds
of academics post copyright-protected journals for free in
tribute to Swartz</font></li>
<li style="font-weight: bold;"><font style=" font-size: 1.4em;">Hacker
group Anonymous crash MIT website over prosecution of
Swartz, described as a 'grotesque miscarriage of justice' <br>
</font></li>
</ul>
<p> By <a moz-do-not-send="true"
href="http://www.dailymail.co.uk/home/search.html?s=&authornamef=Helen+Pow"
class="author" rel="nofollow">Helen Pow</a>, <a
moz-do-not-send="true"
href="http://www.dailymail.co.uk/home/search.html?s=&authornamef=James++Nye"
class="author" rel="nofollow">James Nye</a> and <a
moz-do-not-send="true"
href="http://www.dailymail.co.uk/home/search.html?s=&authornamef=Rachel+Quigley"
class="author" rel="nofollow">Rachel Quigley</a></p>
<p> <span class="article-timestamp"> <strong>PUBLISHED:</strong>
16:19 GMT, 15 January 2013 </span> | <span
class="article-timestamp"> <strong>UPDATED:</strong> 17:32
GMT, 15 January 2013 </span> </p>
<p><font style="font-size: 1.2em;">The prosecutor who is being
accused of acting 'over zealously' in his pursuit of online
pioneer Aaron Swartz, who killed himself at the weekend,
played a role in another young hacker's suicide in 2008, it
was claimed today.</font></p>
<p><font style="font-size: 1.2em;">Assistant United States
Attorney Stephen Heymann had reportedly been insisting on jail
time for Swartz and was refusing to negotiate a plea deal on
the</font><font style="font-size: 1.2em;"> 30 years in jail he
faced for stealing academic papers.</font></p>
<p><font style="font-size: 1.2em;">In 2008, another young hacker
also committed suicide after being named in a case Heymann was
leading.</font></p>
<p><font style="font-size: 1.2em;">Jonathan James killed himself
aged 24 two weeks after the Secret Service raided his house as
part of its investigation into the TJX Hacker case - which is
known as the largest identity hack in history.</font></p>
<div class="clear"> </div>
<div class="artSplitter">
<div class="splitLeft"> <img
src="cid:part4.04060302.01040006@gmail.com" alt="aaron
swartz jonathan james" class="blkBorder" height="423"
width="306"> </div>
<div class="splitRight"> <img
src="cid:part5.03030809.04070701@gmail.com" alt="aaron
swartz jonathan james" class="blkBorder" height="423"
width="306"> </div>
<div class="clear"> </div>
<p class="imageCaption">Victims: Both Aaron Swartz, left, and
Jonathan James killed themselves in the middle of cases led by
assistant U.S. attorney Stephen Heymann<br>
</p>
</div>
<p><font style="font-size: 1.2em;">His friend Christopher Scott
was charged with breaching retail networks, and James was
reportedly the co-conspirator 'J.J.' mentioned in the
indictment. <br>
</font></p>
<p><font style="font-size: 1.2em;">James said he had nothing to do
with the retail hack but believed that the feds would try to
pin it on him, according to </font><a moz-do-not-send="true"
href="http://www.buzzfeed.com/justinesharrock/internet-activists-prosecutor-linked-to-another-h"
rel="nofollow" target="_blank"><font style="font-size: 1.2em;">Buzz
Feed.</font></a></p>
<p><font style="font-size: 1.2em;">In his suicide note, James said
he had no faith in the justice system, which he believed were
trying to tie him to a crime he did not commit.</font></p>
<p><font style="font-size: 1.2em;">'I have no faith in the
"justice" system. Perhaps my actions today, and this letter,
will send a stronger message to the public. <br>
</font></p>
<p><font style="font-size: 1.2em;">'Either way, I have lost
control over this situation, and this is my only way to regain
control.<br>
</font></p>
<p><font style="font-size: 1.2em;">'Remember, it's not whether you
win or lose, it's whether I win or lose, and sitting in jail
for 20, ten, or even five years for a crime I didn't commit is
not me winning. I die free.'</font></p>
<p><font style="font-size: 1.2em;">James was the first juvenile
put into confinement for a federal cyber crime case.<br>
</font></p>
<p><font style="font-size: 1.2em;">Aaron Swartz </font><font
style="font-size: 1.2em;">was charged last September with </font><font
style="font-size: 1.2em;"> wire fraud, computer fraud and
unlawfully obtaining information from a protected computer
after he allegedly tried to steal millions of scholarly papers
from Massachusetts Institute of Technology in January 2011. <br>
</font></p>
<p><font style="font-size: 1.2em;">It is thought that the stress
and strain of the looming federal trial contributed to the
depression which is being blamed for Swartz taking his own
life on January 11 at his Brooklyn, New York apartment.</font></p>
<p><font style="font-size: 1.2em;">Swartz's lawyer had originally
approached federal prosecutors in fall 2012 about a deal and
was turned down even though JSTOR - the online database Swarts
hacked into - declined to pursue charges.<br>
</font></p>
<p><font style="font-size: 1.2em;">His friends have accused
Heymann </font><font style="font-size: 1.2em;">of
contributing to Swartz's suicide, with his unwillingness to
compromise on his prosecution. </font></p>
<p><font style="font-size: 1.2em;"><span style="font-weight:
bold;">Scroll down to watch video and full statement from
family</span></font></p>
<div class="clear"> </div>
<div class="artSplitter"> <img
src="cid:part7.00030703.08090207@gmail.com" alt="Remorse: MIT
president L Rafael Reif said he was pained to think that the
school had any role in Swartz's tragic death"
class="blkBorder" height="470" width="634">
<p class="imageCaption">Remorse: MIT president L Rafael Reif
said he was pained to think that the school had any role in
Swartz's tragic death</p>
</div>
<p> </p>
<div class="clear"> </div>
<div class="artSplitter"> <img
src="cid:part8.07070903.03030400@gmail.com" alt="Defiance:
Anonymous publicizes the move by hundreds of academics to post
their copyright-protected articles online for free following
the suicide of Internet activist Aaron Swartz"
class="blkBorder" height="301" width="634">
<p class="imageCaption">Defiance: Anonymous publicizes the move
by hundreds of academics to post their copyright-protected
articles online for free following the suicide of Internet
activist Aaron Swartz</p>
</div>
<div class="clear"> </div>
<p><font style="font-size: 1.2em;">'Aaron's death is not simply a
personal tragedy. It is the product of a criminal justice
system rife with intimidation and prosecutorial overreach,'
his family said in a statement.<br>
</font></p>
<p><font style="font-size: 1.2em;">'Decisions made by officials in
the Massachusetts U.S. attorney's office and at MIT
contributed to his death.'</font></p>
<p><font style="font-size: 1.2em;">Speaking to </font><a
moz-do-not-send="true"
href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/01/14/aaron-swartz-stephen-heymann_n_2473278.html"
rel="nofollow" target="_blank"><font style="font-size:1.2em;">Huffington
Post</font></a><font style="font-size: 1.2em;"> </font><font
style="font-size: 1.2em;"> yesterday, Swartz's attorney Elliot
Peters accused Massachusetts assistant U.S. attorney Stephen
Heymann of pursuing federal charges against Swartz to gain
publicity.</font></p>
<p><font style="font-size: 1.2em;">He said Heymann was looking for
'some juicy looking computer crime cases and Aaron's case,
sadly for Aaron, fit the bill. He thought he was going to
receive press and he was going to be a tough guy and read his
name in the newspaper.'<br>
</font></p>
<p><font style="font-size: 1.2em;">Peters said Heymann was
threatening Swartz with potentially longer prison sentences if
Swartz didn't accept his plea deal offers.<br>
</font></p>
<p><font style="font-size: 1.2em;">'He was very intransigent,'
Peters said of Heymann. 'It was his philosophy that as you got
closer to trial the plea offers only got worse. But the offer
he was making was so unreasonable that having it get worse
didn't concern me much.'<br>
</font></p>
<p><font style="font-size: 1.2em;">Heymann did not respond to
requests for comment. </font> </p>
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<p><font style="font-size: 1.2em;">A petition has been put up
online demanding that Heymann be fired because of his
'overzealous prosecution of an allegedly minor and non-violent
electronic crime led to the suicide of Aaron Swartz'.<br>
</font></p>
<p><font style="font-size: 1.2em;">Heymann and colleague Carmen
Ortiz filed to dismiss the charges against Mr Swartz in a
Boston court yesterday. <br>
</font></p>
<p><font style="font-size: 1.2em;">The three-line notice s</font><font
style="font-size: 1.2em;">a</font><font style="font-size:
1.2em;">ys the case is being dismissed because of Swartz's
death. Such filings are routine when a defendant dies before
trial.</font></p>
<p><font style="font-size: 1.2em;">The Massachusetts U.S.
attorney's office told MailOnline that they would not discuss
the case out of respect for the family's privacy. </font></p>
<p><font style="font-size: 1.2em;">Massachusetts Institute of
Technology's president spoke of his sadness over Swartz's
suicide and said there would be 'thorough analysis' into the
school's role in the federal case against the 26-year-old
computer programmer. <br>
</font></p>
<p><font style="font-size: 1.2em;">MIT president L. Rafael Reif
said: 'I want to express very clearly that I and all of us at
MIT are extremely saddened by the death of this promising
young man, who touched the lives of so many.</font></p>
<div class="clear"> </div>
<p><font style="font-size: 1.2em;">'It pains me to think that MIT
played any role in a series of events that have ended in
tragedy.'</font></p>
<div class="floatRHS art-ins news">
<h3 class="wocc"><span style="font-weight: bold;">'A GROTESQUE
MISCARRIAGE OF JUSTICE': ANONYMOUS HACKS MIT WEBSITE IN
SUPPORT OF <br>
AARON SWARTZ</span><br>
</h3>
<div class="ins cleared xolcc bdrcc">
<p> </p>
<p><font style="font-size: 1.2em;">Anonymous crashed MIT's
website on Sunday evening in a defiant move over the
prosecution of Swartz which the hacker group described as
</font><font style="font-size: 1.2em;">'a grotesque
miscarriage of justice'.</font></p>
<p><font style="font-size: 1.2em;">The entire university
network reportedly faltered after the move by Anonymous. <br>
</font></p>
<p><font style="font-size: 1.2em;">According to the </font><a
moz-do-not-send="true" style="font-weight: bold;"
href="http://www.thewrap.com/media/column-post/anonymous-hackers-down-mit-website-after-aaron-swartz-suicide-72871"
rel="nofollow" target="_blank"><font style="font-size:
1.2em;">wrap.com</font></a><font style="font-size:
1.2em;">, the red and black message which appeared in
place of the site, read: 'Whether or not the government
contributed to his suicide, the government’s prosecution
of Swartz was a grotesque miscarriage of justice, a
distorted and perverse shadow of the justice that Aaron
died fighting for - freeing the publicly-funded scientific
literature from a publishing system that makes it
inaccessible to most of those who paid for it - enabling
the collective betterment of the world through the
facilitation of sharing - an ideal that we should all
support.'</font></p>
<p><font style="font-size: 1.2em;">Kimberly Allen, media
relations manager at MIT, could not be reached for comment
by MailOnline. </font></p>
</div>
</div>
<p><font style="font-size: 1.2em;">The statement came as hundreds
of academics posted links to copyright-protected journals
online in tribute to Internet activist Swartz.</font></p>
<p><font style="font-size: 1.2em;">The movement appears to have
started on Swartz's own site Reddit and was echoed by
Anonymous on Twitter, who wrote: 'Please share: Academics
posting their papers online in tribute to Aaron Swartz using
hashtag #pdftribute #ICYMI.'</font></p>
<p><font style="font-size: 1.2em;">The 26-year-old's funeral is to
be held on Tuesday at the Central Avenue Synagogue in his home
town of Highland Park, Illinois.<br>
</font></p>
<p><font style="font-size: 1.2em;">Even officials at JSTOR - </font><font
style="font-size: 1.2em;"> </font><font style="font-size:
1.2em;">an archive of academic journals to which universities,
including MIT, pay large amounts of money for access</font><font
style="font-size: 1.2em;"> - slammed the harsh tactics of the
</font><font style="font-size: 1.2em;">U.S. Attorney’s Office in
Boston.</font></p>
<p><font style="font-size: 1.2em;">Prosecutors had released </font><font
style="font-size: 1.2em;">incriminating images which allegedly
showed Swartz </font><font style="font-size: 1.2em;">illegally
downloading material from JSTOR in 2011</font><font
style="font-size: 1.2em;">.</font></p>
<p><font style="font-size: 1.2em;">Cameras were installed after
investigators at MIT began to suspect that someone was
illegally downloading material - which they traced to a
basement wiring closet where a laptop and external hard drive
were found hooked up directly to a network.</font></p>
<p><font style="font-size: 1.2em;">The laptop and the hard drive
were hidden from view by a cardboard box.</font></p>
<p><font style="font-size: 1.2em;">Swartz can be seen entering the
closet three days in a row. Using his white bicycle helmet as
a mask on January 6, 2011, Swartz attempts to cover his face
from the cameras as he tries to retrieve the computer
equipment that he left weeks before.</font></p>
<div class="artSplitter"> <img
src="cid:part13.06000502.01040807@gmail.com" alt="Aaron Swartz
covers his face with his bicycle helmet as he enters a small
electrical closet at the MIT to retrieve his computer hardware
" class="blkBorder" height="558" width="634">
<p class="imageCaption">Aaron Swartz covers his face with his
bicycle helmet as he enters a small electrical closet at the
MIT to retrieve his computer hardware </p>
</div>
<div class="clear"> </div>
<div class="artSplitter"> <img
src="cid:part14.02020901.09080606@gmail.com" alt="Aaron Swartz
was caught soon afterwards this video was recorded on January
6th 2011 with a laptop and a hard drive that contained secured
and lucrative academic journals that had been hacked"
class="blkBorder" height="365" width="634">
<p class="imageCaption">Aaron Swartz was caught soon afterwards
this video was recorded on January 6th 2011 with a laptop and
a hard drive that contained secured and lucrative academic
journals that had been hacked</p>
</div>
<p><font style="font-size: 1.2em;">At 2.11 pm, Swartz was ID'd on
a bicycle on Massachusetts Avenue by an MIT police officer,
according to his report. <br>
</font></p>
<p><font style="font-size: 1.2em;">That report states that when he
encountered Captain Albert Pierce of the MIT Police
Department, Swartz jumped off his bike and ran down Lee
Street.</font></p>
<p><font style="font-size: 1.2em;">He made it approximately 400
feet before being handcuffed and charged with breaking and
entering.</font></p>
<p><font style="font-size: 1.2em;">According to an indictment last
July, Swartz’s laptop had been using MIT’s network to rapidly
download articles from JSTOR.</font></p>
<p><font style="font-size: 1.2em;">The indictment describes these
events as the final phase of Swartz’s three-month JSTOR
downloading operation, bringing his total count of acquired
articles to 4.8 million. MIT valued that information at
$50,000, according to the Cambridge Police incident report.</font></p>
<div class="clear"> </div>
<div class="clear"> </div>
<div class="artSplitter"> <img
src="cid:part15.09040205.08060505@gmail.com" alt="Aaron Swartz
was found hanging from his belt near his bedroom window,
sources in Crown Heights, Brooklyn, New York said. The death
was pronounced as a suicide by the city's medical examiner"
class="blkBorder" height="475" width="634">
<p class="imageCaption">Aaron Swartz was found hanging from his
belt near his bedroom window, sources in Crown Heights,
Brooklyn, New York said. The death was pronounced as a suicide
by the city's medical examiner</p>
</div>
<p><font style="font-size: 1.2em;">Swartz’s intention, the
indictment claimed, was to upload all of the documents to a
peer-to-peer file-sharing site, where anyone could access them
for free.</font></p>
<p><font style="font-size: 1.2em;">Before his suicide Swartz faced
up to 35-years in prison and was out on $100,000 bail.</font></p>
<p><font style="font-size: 1.2em;">His legal team still were
holding out hope for a crucial hearing which they hoped could
still halt proceedings of 13-felony counts against him.</font></p>
<p><font style="font-size: 1.2em;">Swartz's friend Larry Lessig, a
Harvard University professor and internet law expert, blamed
the federal prosecutor, who he called </font><font
style="font-size: 1.2em;">a 'bully,' on his </font><a
moz-do-not-send="true" style="font-weight: bold;"
href="http://lessig.tumblr.com/post/40347463044/prosecutor-as-bully"
rel="nofollow" target="_blank"><font style="font-size: 1.2em;">blog</font></a><font
style="font-size: 1.2em;"> and said that Swartz had been
'driven to the edge' by the government's aggressive and
disproportionate handling of the case.</font></p>
<div class="clear"> </div>
<div class="artSplitter">
<div class="splitLeft"> <img
src="cid:part17.06030306.07030901@gmail.com"
alt="Intimidated: The family of Aaron Swartz, left, and his
partner Taren Stinebricker-Kaufmann, right, blame MIT and
federal prosecutors for his death" class="blkBorder"
height="423" width="306"> </div>
<div class="splitRight"> <img
src="cid:part18.02040004.00080703@gmail.com"
alt="Intimidated: The family of Aaron Swartz, left, and his
partner Taren Stinebricker-Kaufmann, right, blame MIT and
federal prosecutors for his death" class="blkBorder"
height="423" width="306"> </div>
<div class="clear"> </div>
<p class="imageCaption">Intimidated: The family of Aaron Swartz,
left, and his partner Taren Stinebricker-Kaufmann, right,
blame MIT and federal prosecutors for his death</p>
</div>
<p> </p>
<p><font style="font-size: 1.2em;">'Our government continued to
push as if it had caught the 9/11 terrorists red-handed,' </font><font
style="font-size: 1.2em;">Lessig </font><font
style="font-size: 1.2em;">wrote.</font></p>
<p><font style="font-size: 1.2em;">In the statement, Swartz'
family described him as 'extraordinary and irreplaceable.'</font></p>
<p><font style="font-size: 1.2em;">They said his 'insatiable
curiosity, creativity, and brilliance; his reflexive empathy
and capacity for selfless, boundless love; his refusal to
accept injustice as inevitable' made the world and their lives
'far brighter.' <br>
</font></p>
<p><font style="font-size: 1.2em;">The online activist and
co-founder of the popular social media site Reddit took his
life just weeks before going on trial for the federal hacking
charges.</font></p>
<p><font style="font-size: 1.2em;">The news of Swartz's untimely
death was confirmed to MIT's The Tech by both his uncle and
his lawyer on Saturday morning. </font></p>
<div class="clear"> </div>
<div class="artSplitter"> <img
src="cid:part19.08040800.02030508@gmail.com" alt="Tragic end:
Aaron Swartz, a programmer and Internet activist who
co-founded a company that would eventually grow into Reddit,
committed suicide Friday in New York City" class="blkBorder"
height="402" width="634">
<p class="imageCaption">Tragic end: Aaron Swartz, a programmer
and Internet activist who co-founded a company that would
eventually grow into Reddit, committed suicide Friday in New
York City</p>
</div>
<p> </p>
<div class="clear"> </div>
<div class="clear"> </div>
<div class="clear"> </div>
<div class="artSplitter">
<p><font style="font-size: 1.2em;">Swartz's uncle, Michael Wolf,
told the </font><a moz-do-not-send="true"
style="font-weight: bold;"
href="http://www.nytimes.com/2013/01/13/technology/aaron-swartz-internet-activist-dies-at-26.html?hp&_r=0"
rel="nofollow" target="_blank"><font style="font-size:
1.2em;">New York Times</font></a><font style="font-size:
1.2em;"> that the programmer's body was discovered by his
girlfriend at his home in the Crown Heights section of
Brooklyn at around 9.30am. </font><font style="font-size:
1.2em;">He left no suicide note. <br>
</font></p>
<p><font style="font-size: 1.2em;">Swartz was a gifted
programmer who helped develop the RSS at the age of 14. He
then went on to start a company that would eventually merge
with Reddit, as well as Demand Progress, a political action
group that campaigns against internet censorship.</font></p>
<p><font style="font-size: 1.2em;">In the past, Swartz hinted at
a battle with depression, according to </font><a
moz-do-not-send="true" style="font-weight: bold;"
href="http://gawker.com/5975410/reddit-cofounder-digital-activist-aaron-swartz-dead-from-suicide-at-26?utm_campaign=socialflow_gawker_twitter&utm_source=gawker_twitter&utm_medium=socialflow"
rel="nofollow" target="_blank"><font
style="font-size:1.2em;">Gawker</font></a><font
style="font-size: 1.2em;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">.</span></font></p>
<p><font style="font-size: 1.2em;">In a 2007 speech, the
internet advocate described himself as being 'miserable'
after moving to San Francisco when his company was purchased
by the publishing giant Conde Nast. <br>
</font></p>
</div>
<font style="font-size: 1.2em;"><span style="font-weight: bold;"></span></font><font
style="font-size: 1.2em;"><span style="font-weight: bold;"></span></font>
<p><font style="font-size: 1.2em;">'I couldn't stand San
Francisco. I couldn't stand office life,' he said at the time.
'I took a long Christmas vacation. I got sick. I thought of
suicide. I ran from the police. And when I got back on Monday
morning, I was asked to resign.'</font></p>
<p><font style="font-size: 1.2em;">In a blog post from later that
year, Swartz went into further detail regarding his bout with
depression.<br>
</font></p>
<p><font style="font-size: 1.2em;">'Your face falls. Perhaps you
cry. You feel worthless. You wonder whether it's worth going
on,' he wrote. <br>
</font></p>
<p><font style="font-size:1.2em;">'Everything you think about
seems bleak - the things you've done, the things you hope to
do, the people around you. </font></p>
<p><font style="font-size: 1.2em;">'You want to lie in bed and
keep the lights off. Depressed mood is like that, only it
doesn't come for any reason and it doesn't go for any either.
Go outside and get some fresh air or cuddle with a loved one
and you don't feel any better, only more upset at being unable
to feel the joy that everyone else seems to feel. Everything
gets colored by the sadness.'</font></p>
<div class="clear"> </div>
<div class="artSplitter"> <img
src="cid:part22.01000604.09070201@gmail.com" alt="Big
business: Reddit was later sold to the publishing giant Conde
Nast, but in 2011 it became operationally independent again "
class="blkBorder" height="501" width="634">
<p class="imageCaption">Big business: Reddit was later sold to
the publishing giant Conde Nast, but in 2011 it became
operationally independent again </p>
</div>
<p><font style="font-size: 1.2em;">In September 2012, Swartz was
charged with 13 counts of felony hacking stemming from his
July 2011 arrest and subsequent indictment by the Department
of Justice for allegedly stealing MIT papers from JSTOR. <br>
</font></p>
<p><font style="font-size: 1.2em;">Two years earlier, Swartz
allegedly connected a laptop to MIT's systems through a
basement network wiring cupboard.</font></p>
<p><font style="font-size: 1.2em;">He registered as a guest under
the fictitious name, Gary Host - a hacking in-joke in which
the first initial and last name spell 'ghost.'</font></p>
<p><font style="font-size: 1.2em;">He then used a software program
to 'rapidly download an extraordinary volume of articles from
JSTOR,' according to the indictment.</font></p>
<p><font style="font-size: 1.2em;">In the following months, MIT
and JSTOR tried to block the recurring and massive downloads,
on occasion denying all MIT users access to JSTOR. <br>
</font></p>
<p><font style="font-size: 1.2em;">But Swartz allegedly got around
it, in part, by disguising the computer source of the demands
for data.<br>
</font></p>
<p><font style="font-size: 1.2em;">In November and December,
Swartz is said to have made 2 million downloads from JSTOR,
100 times the number made during the same period by all
legitimate JSTOR users at MIT.<br>
</font></p>
<div class="clear"> </div>
<div class="artSplitter"> <img
src="cid:part23.08090300.06010707@gmail.com" alt="Whiz kid: At
age 14, Swartz co-authored an early version of RSS and later
he started Infogami, a company that would eventually merge
with Reddit" class="blkBorder" height="470" width="634">
<p class="imageCaption">Whiz kid: At age 14, Swartz, right,
co-authored an early version of RSS and later he started
Infogami, a company that would eventually merge with Reddit</p>
</div>
<p> </p>
<div class="clear"> </div>
<p><font style="font-size: 1.2em;">It is alleged that on January
6, Swartz went to the wiring closet to remove the laptop,
attempting to shield his identity by holding a bike helmet in
front of his face and seeing his way through its ventilation
holes. </font></p>
<p><font style="font-size: 1.2em;">He fled when MIT police tried
to question him that day, it is claimed.</font></p>
<p><font style="font-size: 1.2em;">The Internet wunderkind pleaded
not guilty to the charges against him, but spent the next
several months struggling to come up with the money to cover
legal fees and continue his fight against the Justice
Department, the site </font><a moz-do-not-send="true"
href="http://www.zdnet.com/hacker-activist-aaron-swartz-commits-suicide-7000009725/"
rel="nofollow" target="_blank"><font style="font-size: 1.2em;
font-weight: bold;">ZDnet</font> </a><font
style="font-size: 1.2em;">reported. <br>
</font></p>
<p><font style="font-size: 1.2em;">Ironically, Swartz's suicide
came just two days after JSTOR announced that ii will be
releasing more than 4.5 million articles to the public. <br>
</font></p>
<p><font style="font-size: 1.2em;">'Our goal is for everyone
around the world to be able to use the content we have put
online and are preserving,' JSTOR Managing Director Laura
Brown said in a statement. <br>
</font></p>
<p><font style="font-size: 1.2em;">On Saturday, Swartz's mother
has posted a statement on the site YCombinator:</font></p>
<p><font style="font-size: 1.2em;">'Thank you all for your kind
words and thoughts. Aaron has been depressed about his
case/upcoming trial, but we had no idea what he was going
through was this painful.</font></p>
<div class="clear"> </div>
<div class="artSplitter"> <img
src="cid:part25.09020604.02090106@gmail.com" alt="Legal
troubles: In 2011, the Reddit co-founder was arrested and
charged with hacking into MIT's JSTOR online journal archive
and stealing more than four million academic papers "
class="blkBorder" height="421" width="634">
<p class="imageCaption">Legal troubles: In 2011, the Reddit
co-founder was arrested and charged with hacking into MIT's
JSTOR online journal archive and stealing more than four
million academic papers </p>
</div>
<p><font style="font-size: 1.2em;">'Aaron was a terrific young
man. He contributed a lot to the world in his short life and I
regret the loss of all the things he had yet to accomplish. As
you can imagine, we all miss him dearly. The grief is
unfathomable.'<br>
</font></p>
<p><font style="font-size: 1.2em;">Swartz's friend Cory Doctorow,
of Boing Boing, published a touching tribute in his honor
early a tribute early Saturday morning after learning of his
death. </font></p>
<p><font style="font-size: 1.2em;">'I'm so sorry for Aaron, and
sorry about Aaron. My sincere condolences to his parents, whom
I never met, but who loved their brilliant, magnificently
weird son and made sure he always had chaperonage when he went
abroad on his adventures,' he wrote in part.</font></p>
<p><font style="font-size: 1.2em;"> 'We have all lost someone
today who had more work to do, and who made the world a better
place when he did it.'</font></p>
<p><font style="font-size: 1.2em;">In his piece, Doctorow
speculated that it is possible that what drove his friend to
suicide is the prospect of incarceration, and all that comes
with it. <br>
</font></p>
<p><font style="font-size: 1.2em;">'Imprisonment is one of my most
visceral terrors, and it's at least credible that fear of
losing his liberty, of being subjected to violence (and
perhaps sexual violence) in prison, was what drove Aaron to
take this step,' he wrote. <br>
</font></p>
<div class="cleared art-ins news">
<h3 class="wocc"><span style="font-weight: bold;">'AARON'S DEATH
IS NOT JUST A PERSONAL TRAGEDY': FAMILY CLAIM
'EXTRAORDINARY' WEB PIONEER WAS BULLIED BY AUTHORITIES</span><br>
</h3>
<div class="ins cleared xolcc bdrcc">
<p><font style="font-size: 1.2em;">Our beloved brother, son,
friend, and partner Aaron Swartz hanged himself on Friday
in his Brooklyn apartment. We are in shock, and have not
yet come to terms with his passing.</font></p>
<p><font style="font-size: 1.2em;">Aaron's insatiable
curiosity, creativity, and brilliance; his reflexive
empathy and capacity for selfless, boundless love; his
refusal to accept injustice as inevitable - these gifts
made the world, and our lives, far brighter. We're
grateful for our time with him, to those who loved him and
stood with him, and to all of those who continue his work
for a better world.</font></p>
<p><font style="font-size: 1.2em;">Aaron's commitment to
social justice was profound, and defined his life. He was
instrumental to the defeat of an Internet censorship bill;
he fought for a more democratic, open, and accountable
political system; and he helped to create, build, and
preserve a dizzying range of scholarly projects that
extended the scope and accessibility of human knowledge.
He used his prodigious skills as a programmer and
technologist not to enrich himself but to make the
Internet and the world a fairer, better place. His deeply
humane writing touched minds and hearts across generations
and continents. He earned the friendship of thousands and
the respect and support of millions more.</font></p>
<p><font style="font-size: 1.2em;">Aaron's death is not simply
a personal tragedy. It is the product of a criminal
justice system rife with intimidation and prosecutorial
overreach. Decisions made by officials in the
Massachusetts U.S. Attorney's office and at MIT
contributed to his death. The US Attorney's office pursued
an exceptionally harsh array of charges, carrying
potentially over 30 years in prison, to punish an alleged
crime that had no victims. Meanwhile, unlike JSTOR, MIT
refused to stand up for Aaron and its own community's most
cherished principles.</font></p>
<p><font style="font-size: 1.2em;">Today, we grieve for the
extraordinary and irreplaceable man that we have lost.</font></p>
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