meeg reviewed Guerilla Open Access Manifesto by Aaron Swartz
Review of 'Guerilla Open Access Manifesto' on 'Goodreads'
5 stars
It feels timely to read this on the 7th anniversary of Aaron's death.
For those who don't know, Aaron Swartz was a computer programmer, activist, hacker, and organizer who believed in free, open internet access. He was arrested by MIT police and charged with breaking-and-entering after it was found that he had connected a laptop to the MIT network in order to download academic articles from JSTOR using an MIT-issued guest account. He faced two counts of wire fraud and eleven violations of the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act, all for trying to provide equal and open access to academic literature. These charges carried: $1 million in fines, asset forfeiture, restitution, supervised release, and up to 35 years in prison. He was, as activists often are, given a plea bargain for 6 months in jail and bravely declined. He committed suicide 2 days later.
"Those with access to these resources …
It feels timely to read this on the 7th anniversary of Aaron's death.
For those who don't know, Aaron Swartz was a computer programmer, activist, hacker, and organizer who believed in free, open internet access. He was arrested by MIT police and charged with breaking-and-entering after it was found that he had connected a laptop to the MIT network in order to download academic articles from JSTOR using an MIT-issued guest account. He faced two counts of wire fraud and eleven violations of the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act, all for trying to provide equal and open access to academic literature. These charges carried: $1 million in fines, asset forfeiture, restitution, supervised release, and up to 35 years in prison. He was, as activists often are, given a plea bargain for 6 months in jail and bravely declined. He committed suicide 2 days later.
"Those with access to these resources — students, librarians, scientists — you have been
given a privilege. You get to feed at this banquet of knowledge while the rest of the world
is locked out. But you need not — indeed, morally, you cannot — keep this privilege for
yourselves."
Rest in power, Aaron.
