Slashdot Mirror
Aaron Swartz Commits Suicide
maijc writes
"Computer activist Aaron Swartz committed suicide yesterday in New York City. He was 26 years old. Swartz was 'indicted in July 2011 by a federal grand jury for allegedly mass downloading documents from the JSTOR online journal archive with the intent to distribute them.' He is best known for co-authoring the widely-used RSS 1.0 specification when he was 14, and as one of the early co-owners of Reddit."
Imagine yourself stuck in a case where you are facing 30+ years for putting up documents online, then the organization saying "Haha! Nevermind, we were going to put everything out in public domain anyway!" (typical PR?) and still be trapped in it.
Very said. I met him once at an ArsDigita event when he was around 14. I was surprised to find that the posts I had been reading came from someone so young. He was a very smart guy and he made a lot of waves. I am sad to see him go.
Coding Blog
Imagine yourself stuck in a case where you are facing 30+ years
I don't fucking need to "imagine" it, you fucking pussy.
I have BEEN in a similar situation.
I once faced 16 years' imprisonment for some trumped-up charges that
might have stuck if I had gone to trial. So like most other people who get
in trouble in the United States on the federal level, I copped a plea with the
agreement that my sentence would be limited to far less prison time.
In the end I served 30 months in federal prison. It was easy time, and I was
in a medium security facility. I cannot say it was pleasant, but it was not even
close to being a scenario in which I could have been the victim of homosexual rape
or any of the other awful things idiots on Slashdot speculate about when they imagine
prison. The truth is that I had a lot of time to relax, I read many excellent books, and
I ate quite well ( food in fed prisons is actually pretty damned good, it is the food in
state prisons which sucks ).
So, what if I had responded to the prosecutor's BULLSHIT attempts to scare me
and killed myself ? I'd be dead. Instead, today I am going to enjoy a nice motorcycle
ride and give my cat a lot of love, and eat a wonderful meal later on. Life has ups
and downs, and there WILL be dark days for all of us, sooner or later. If you let
a dark day push you into committing suicide, you will have failed yourself.
Instead of being dead, I can honestly say that prison was a growth experience
for me and that I am today happier than I have ever been.
NEVER EVER GIVE UP, no matter what some bastard is doing to you.
If my story is not powerful enough for you, look up the story of Primo Levi.
That story will be enough to leave a permanent imprint on your brain, I
assure you.