I never had the privilege of knowing Aaron Swartz personally, but I’m glad MIT, historically a fountain of innovation, is ostensibly trying to do some small part to atone for their collective contribution to his
death and the loss of his passion to the wider world.
Is this ass-covering, or is it a gesture of genuine remorse? Given that individuals in any institution have various motives, maybe it’s some of both. But I’m still glad they’re making the gesture. It gives me hope that
we may yet see MIT do the right thing and lay down clear policy that they won’t be complicit with intimidation by public prosecutors pursuing dubious charges against transparency activists. Activists like Aaron Swartz, whose only “crime” was releasing lots of already public information about the court cases our own
taxes fund and which are unconstitutionally and therefore illegally hidden behind paywalls by rentier bureaucrats trying to bilk money from information that already belongs to the American People
and does NOT belong to them.
That such a travesty drove a good man to death is shameful for all of us for letting it come to this sorry pass, but most especially for the lowlifes that used him as a stepping stone for their legal careers, namely Carmen
Ortiz who hasn’t encountered so much as a speedbump for zealously directing her office’s judicial miscarriage in her pursuit not of justice, but of self-advancement. A good man is dead and the lawyer who helped hound him isn’t so much as interrupted in her ruthless quest for public appointments.
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