The Idealists

by Justin Peters

  25 Ibid.

  26 Ryan Singel, “Aaron Swartz and the Two Faces of Power,” Wired, January 18, 2013, http://www.wired.com/2013/01/aaron-swartz-activism-and-the-two-sided-sword-of-power/.

  27 Swartz FOIA, 863.

  28 Ibid., 796–99; also 868–72.

  29 “COICA twice defeated has offspring bent on revenge,” Demand Progress Blog, May 11, 2011, https://web.archive.org/web/20120609221325/http://blog.demandprogress.org/2011/05/coica-twice-defeated-has-offspring-bent-on-revenge/.

  30 Senator Patrick Leahy, “Senate Judiciary Committee Unanimously Approves Bipartisan Bill to Crack Down on Rogue Websites,” news release, May 26, 2011, http://www.leahy.senate.gov/press/senate-judiciary-committee-unanimously-approves-bipartisan-bill-to-crack-down-on-rogue-websites.

  31 “Wyden Places Hold on Protect IP Act,” news release, May 26, 2011, http://www.wyden.senate.gov/news/press-releases/wyden-places-hold-on-protect-ip-act.

  32 Moon, Ruffini, and Segal, Hacking Politics, 81.

  33 Swartz FOIA, 866.

  34 Abelson et al., MIT Report, 42.

  35 Ibid.

  36 Ibid., 58.

  37 Ibid., 59–60.

  38 Ibid., 52–54.

  39 Ibid., 59.

  40 Alexis C. Madrigal, “Editor’s Note to Quinn Norton’s Account of the Aaron Swartz Investigation,” Atlantic, March 3, 2013, http://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2013/03/editors-note-to-quinn-nortons-account-of-the-aaron-swartz-investigation/273666/.

  41 Norton, “Life Inside the Aaron Swartz Investigation.”

  42 Taren Stinebrickner-Kauffman, “Who Am I?,” TarenSK, January 31, 2013, http://tarensk.tumblr.com/post/41956434294/who-am-i.

  43 Stinebrickner-Kauffman, interview.

  44 Ibid.

  45 Ibid.

  46 Holden Karnofsky, “In Memory of Aaron Swartz,” The GiveWell Blog, January 16, 2013, http://blog.givewell.org/2013/01/16/in-memory-of-aaron-swartz/.

  47 Taren Stinebrickner-Kauffman, “MIT Memorial Service,” TarenSK, March 13, 2013, http://tarensk.tumblr.com/post/45281114505/mit-memorial-service.

  48 Ibid.

  49 See Snejana Farberov, Helen Pow, and James Nye, “Surveillance Shot that ruined tragic Reddit co-founder Aaron Swartz’s life,” Daily Mail, January 13, 2013, http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2261840/Aaron-Swartz-MIT-surveillance-shot-ruined-tragic-Reddit-founders-life.html.

  50 “Federal Government Indicts Former Demand Progress Executive Director for Downloading Too Many Journal Articles,” Demand Progress Blog, July 19, 2011, https://web.archive.org/web/20110721132939/http://blog.demandprogress.org/2011/07/federal-government-indicts-former-demand-progress-executive-director-for-downloading-too-many-journal-articles/.

  51 “Show Your Support for Aaron,” Demand Progress, July 22, 2011, https://web.archive.org/web/20110722104427/http://act.demandprogress.org/sign/support_aaron.

  52 “UPDATE: More Than 15,000 People Sign Petition in Support of Aaron Swartz,” Demand Progress Blog, July 19, 2011, https://web.archive.org/web/20110723205147/http://blog.demandprogress.org/2011/07/update-more-than-15000-people-sign-petition-in-support-of-aaron-swartz/.

  53 John Schwartz, “Open-Access Advocate Is Arrested for Huge Download,” New York Times, July 19, 2011, http://www.nytimes.com/2011/07/20/us/20compute.html.

  54 Milton J. Valencia, “Activist Charged with Hacking,” Boston Globe, July 20, 2011, http://www.boston.com/news/education/higher/articles/2011/07/20/activist_charged_with_hacking_mit_network_to_download_files/.

  55 “More Than 35,000 Sign Petition in Support of Aaron Swartz,” Demand Progress Blog, July 20, 2011, https://web.archive.org/web/20110723204917/http://blog.demandprogress.org/2011/07/more-than-35000-sign-petition-in-support-of-aaron-swartz/.

  56 Abelson et al., MIT Report, 68.

  57 Brewster Kahle, “Michael Hart of Project Gutenberg Passes,” Brewster Kahle’s Blog, September 7, 2011, http://brewster.kahle.org/2011/09/07/michael-hart-of-project-gutenberg-passes/.

  58 Tim Berners-Lee, “Long Live the Web: A Call for Continued Open Standards and Neutrality,” Scientific American, December 2010, 80–85.

  59 Moon, Ruffini, and Segal, Hacking Politics, 103.

  60 Herman, Fight over Digital Rights, 196.

  61 “Stop Online Piracy Act, Hearing before the Committee on the Judiciary, House of Representatives, One Hundred Twelfth Congress, First Session, on H.R. 3261,” serial no. 112–154, November 16, 2011, 47.

  62 Ibid., 99–100.

  63 Ibid., 246.

  64 Ibid., 245.

  65 “American Censorship Day,” November 17, 2011, https://web.archive.org/web/20111117023831/http://americancensorship.org/.

  66 Ibid., November 18, 2011, https://web.archive.org/web/20111118014748/http://americancensorship.org/.

  67 Moon, Ruffini, and Segal, Hacking Politics, 117.

  68 Brewster Kahle, “12 Hours Dark: Internet Archive vs. Censorship,” Internet Archive Blogs, January 17, 2012, https://blog.archive.org/2012/01/17/12-hours-dark-internet-archive-vs-censorship/.

  69 Senator Bob Menendez, Twitter post, January 17, 2012, 3:17 p.m., https://twitter.com/SenatorMenendez.

  70 Senator Jeff Merkley, Twitter post, January 18, 2012, 8:47 a.m., https://twitter.com/SenJeffMerkley.

  71 Senator Mark Kirk, “Kirk Announces Opposition to PROTECT IP Act,” news release, January 18, 2012, http://kirk-press.enews.senate.gov/mail/util.cfm?gpiv=2100082649.679.318&gen=1.

  72 Representative Ted Poe, “I welcome [halting of SOPA] because of the bill’s overreach,” e-mail message, January 20, 2012, http://projects.propublica.org/sopa/P000592.html.

  73 Senator Patrick Leahy, “Comment of Senator Patrick Leahy on Postponement of the Vote on Cloture on the Motion to Proceed to the PROTECT IP Act,” news release, January 20, 2012, http://www.leahy.senate.gov/press/comment-of-senator-patrick-leahy-on-postponement-of-the-vote-on-cloture-on-the-motion-to-proceed-to-the-protect-ip-act.

  74 Swartz, Flaming Sword of Justice.

  75 Interview with Holmes Wilson, January 2013.

  76 Swartz, Flaming Sword of Justice.

  77 Stinebrickner-Kauffman, interview.

  78 Aaron Swartz, “How We Stopped SOPA” (keynote speech, F2C: Freedom to Connect, Washington, DC, May 21, 2012).

  10. HOW TO SAVE THE WORLD

  1 Swartz, “How to Save the World, Part 1.”

  2 Wikler, interview.

  3 Ibid.

  4 Aaron Swartz, Twitter post, June 1, 2012, 10:54 a.m., https://twitter.com/aaronsw.

  5 Aaron Swartz, “Perfect Institutions,” Raw Thought, June 8, 2012, http://www.aaronsw.com/weblog/perfectinstitutions.

  6 Stinebrickner-Kauffman, interview.

  7 Abelson et al., MIT Report, 65.

  8 Ibid., 66.

  9 Aaron Swartz, “Do I have too much faith in science?” Raw Thought, August 10, 2012, http://www.aaronsw.com/weblog/sciencefaith.

  10 Stinebrickner-Kauffman, interview.

  11 Aaron Swartz, “Take a step back,” Raw Thought, August 18, 2012, http://www.aaronsw.com/weblog/stepback.

  12 Aaron Swartz, “A cure for nearsightedness?” Aaron Swartz: The Weblog, July 20, 2002, http://www.aaronsw.com/weblog/000432.

  13 Aaron Swartz, “Believe you can change,” Raw Thought, August 18, 2012, http://www.aaronsw.com/weblog/dweck.

  14 Swartz, “Take a step back.”

  15 Aaron Swartz, “Lean into the pain,” Raw Thought, September 1, 2012, http://www.aaronsw.com/weblog/dalio.

  16 Interview with Jeffrey Mayersohn, January 2013.

  17 Swartz, “Lean into the pain.”

  18 Seth Finkelstein, “Aaron Swartz ‘JSTOR’ case indictment revised/expanded,” Infothought, September 14, 2012, http://sethf.com/infothought/blog/archives/001476.html.

  19 US Department of Justice, United States Attorneys’ Manual 9–27.320(B) (1997), available online at http://www.justice.gov/usam/united-states-attorneys-manual.

  20 Aaron Swartz, “Since power over human beings is show
n . . . ,” Raw Meat, September 13, 2012, http://qblog.aaronsw.com/post/31460484751/since-power-over-human-beings-is-shown-in-making.

  21 Abelson et al., MIT Report, 69.

  22 Aaron Swartz, “What Happens in The Dark Knight,” Raw Thought, November 1, 2012, http://www.aaronsw.com/weblog/tdk.

  23 Ibid.

  24 Alex Stamos, “The Truth about Aaron Swartz’s ‘Crime,’ ” Unhandled Exception, January 12, 2013, http://unhandled.com/2013/01/12/the-truth-about-aaron-swartzs-crime/.

  25 Swartz FOIA, 738–48.

  26 Interview with Elliot Peters, February 2013.

  27 Taren Stinebrickner-Kauffman speech (Cooper Union, New York, NY, January 19, 2013).

  28 Mayersohn, interview.

  29 Stinebrickner-Kauffman, interview.

  30 Ibid.

  31 Ibid.

  32 Paul McGeough, “Aaron Swartz: A Beautiful Mind,” Sydney Morning Herald, February 1, 2014, http://www.smh.com.au/technology/technology-news/aaron-swartz-a-beautiful-mind-20140131-31hjr.html.

  33 Woodhull, interview.

  34 Peters, interview.

  35 Stinebrickner-Kauffman, interview.

  36 Wikler, interview.

  37 A version of this paragraph and the next one originally appeared in Slate. Used with permission.

  38 Peters, interview.

  39 Wikler, interview.

  40 Jean-Claude Guédon, “An Unforgettable Mind,” Remember Aaron Swartz, January 18, 2013, https://github.com/rememberaaronsw/rememberaaronsw/blob/master/memories/_posts/2013-01-18-An-unforgettable-mind.md.

  41 Brad Templeton, “What Is a Hero?” Remember Aaron Swartz, January 18, 2013, http://www.rememberaaronsw.com/memories/What-is-a-hero%3F.html.

  42 Reynaldo Guimaraes, “God Bless Him,” Remember Aaron Swartz, January 14, 2013, http://www.rememberaaronsw.com/memories/God-Bless-Him.html.

  43 E-mails received by MIT.

  44 Holmes Wilson, “Aaron Swartz Was a Friend, and We Went to His Funeral Tuesday,” projectbrainsaver, January 18, 2013, https://projectbrainsaver.wordpress.com/2013/01/18/holmes-wilson-fight-for-the-future-aaron-swartz-was-a-friend-and-we-went-to-his-funeral-tuesday/.

  45 “Declaration of Jack R. Pirozzolo in Support of the United States’ Response to the Defendant’s Motion to Modify Protective Order,” March 29, 2013, 4.

  46 Kevin Cullen, “On Humanity, a Big Failure in Aaron Swartz Case,” Boston Globe, January 15, 2013, http://www.bostonglobe.com/metro/2013/01/15/humanity-deficit/bj8oThPDwzgxBSHQt3tyKI/story.html.

  47 Edward Tufte, “Speech at Aaron Swartz Public Memorial” (speech, Cooper Union, New York, NY, January 19, 2013).

  48 Abelson et al., MIT Report, 93.

  49 Aaron Swartz, “Fix the machine, not the person,” Raw Thought, September 25, 2012, http://www.aaronsw.com/weblog/nummi.

  50 Aaron Swartz, “Checking In,” Schoolyard Subversion, December 23, 2001, http://web.archive.org/web/20020205111032/http://swartzfam.com/aaron/school/.

  51 A version of this paragraph originally appeared in Slate. Used with permission.

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