Slashdot Mirror
Slate's Mini-Biography of Aaron Swartz
New submitter ElDuque writes "Slate's top story today is a long, heavily-researched article about the life of, and case against, Aaron Swartz. It covers the formative years of both Mr. Swartz and the free information / open knowledge movement he felt so strongly about. Quoting: 'Aaron Swartz is a difficult puzzle. He was a programmer who resisted the description, a dot-com millionaire who lived in a rented one-room studio. He could be a troublesome collaborator but an effective troubleshooter. He had a talent for making powerful friends, and for driving them away. He had scores of interests, and he indulged them all. ... He was fascinated by large systems, and how an organization’s culture and values could foster innovation or corruption, collaboration or paranoia. Why does one group accept a 14-year-old as an equal partner among professors and professionals while another spends two years pursuing a court case that’s divorced from any sense of proportionality to the alleged crime? How can one sort of organization develop a young man like Aaron Swartz, and how can another destroy him?'"
If you are interested in meeting someone who knew Aaron personally and ask questions, I suggest you attend a great and free talk by Cory Doctorow. There will be a discussion about Aaron Swartz. Specific details are here: http://craphound.com/
Saturday Feb 9th in Salt Lake City, UT http://www.cityweekly.net/utah/event-141058-cory-doctorow-signing-and-reading-homeland.html
Sunday Feb 10th in Tempe, AZ http://events.azfamily.com/Cory_Doctorow_Homeland/269560116.html
There's no such thing as "illegal download"
Only 1500 signatures needed before monday (probably monday early morning) for fire Steve Heymann white house petition See also Aaron's partner post for more details.
This probably won't get an answer but once the treshhold is reached, the petition will remain readable indefinitely on the white house website. This won't look good on his resume when it comes to be promoted. That's reason enough to sign.