[okfn-discuss] Aaron Swartz - should OKFN take a position?

Tue Jul 26 02:56:46 UTC 2011

I would like to see OKFN make a statement supporting Aaron Swartz. He
has done some great things in the open knowledge space, including
developing the Open Library. He's been arrested and charged with
federal crimes relating to the misuse of JSTOR's network for
downloading tens of thousands of documents. He used guest logins at
MIT with spoofed IP/MAC addresses to gain access. Moreover, it appears
he broke into MIT's networking cabinets so that he could store the
laptop & external hard drive.

Some views on the case:
http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/sj/2011/07/24/aaron-swartz-v-united-states/
(SJ Klein, who I know from OLPC)

I feel that the community should make some public statement.