THE BOY WHO COULD CHANGE THE WORLD: THE WRITINGS OF AARON SWARTZ by Aaron Swartz The New Press

[Rayzer@riseup.net (Rayzer)]

Rayzer wrote:
> coderman wrote:
>> https://newrepublic.com/article/126674/reading-everything-aaron-swartz-wrote
>> '''
>> ... In a way, Aaron is a cautionary tale for unschooling. One of the
>> lessons that school teaches is that the people who make the rules
>> donâ??t really have to follow them. Itâ??s something even the most
>> rebellious students learn one way or another, but Aaron looked up a
>> different set of rules and hacked his way out of school instead. On
>> one hand Aaron was happy with his choice and felt more engaged and
>> happier with online peers, on the other he absorbed a dangerous lesson
>> about navigating bureaucratic systems. Plenty of legal scholars and
>> technology experts thought Aaron had kept on the right side of the
>> letter of the law, but the criminal justice system is resistant to the
>> kind of hacking he tended to practice. I donâ??t know if he considered
>> fleeing the country, but I doubt it. Maybe if he had lived to see
>> Edward Snowden make dodging extradition look good, things would have
>> been different.
>>
>> I was surprised when I saw the security footage of Aaron entering the
>> MIT building, his bike helmet held half-heartedly in front of his
>> face, his telltale hair poking out the sides. I had read the
>> Manifesto, but I didnâ??t think it really reflected Aaronâ??s intentions.
>> I was worried about what could happen to him, but not that worried. I
>> figured he had enough institutional support to keep his punishment to
>> a slap on the wrist. Mostly I was angry that he hadnâ??t taken what he
>> was doing seriously enough; with a team and a little bit of planning,
>> thereâ??s no reason the authorities should have been able to tie Aaron
>> to the action. But covert ops wasnâ??t one of his strengths, and he
>> never got the chance to learn.
>>
>> If Iâ??m part of the we that counted on Aaron, then Iâ??m also part of the
>> we that failed him. I thought his connections and credibility and
>> reputation would keep him safe, and maybe he did too. Maybe we
>> convinced him that a boy like him could change the world, or at least
>> always hack an escape route. But thereâ??s no individual who canâ??t be
>> picked off if they cross the wrong line, or just the wrong prosecutor.
>> '''
>>
>>
> â??A revolutionary is a dead man on furlough.â?? ~V.I Lenin
>

Ps. "Don't mourn, organize" ~Joel Hägglund (Joe Hill)

"Goodbye Bill (Bill Haywood, IWW president): I die like a true rebel.
Don't waste any time mourning, organize! It is a hundred miles from here
to Wyoming. Could you arrange to have my body hauled to the state line
to be buried? I don't want to be found dead in Utah."

-- 
RR

"You might want to ask an expert about that - I just fiddled around
with mine until it worked..."


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