Patch readers joined our discussions this week from remedies for battling the flu to sharing their thoughts on whether they support internet activists such as Aaron Swartz pushing for a more open web.
Internet activists such as Highland Park's Aaron Swartz and WikiLeaks' Julian Assange want information freely available on the web. Patch wants to know if you support their actions? Join the discussion in the comment section below.
As an Internet activist, Aaron Swartz fought to make information freely available on the web. The 26-year-old from Highland Park, who committed suicide on Jan. 11, founded Demand Progress, an organization devoted to Internet activism and fought expanded government oversight of the Internet. He also helped create the RSS feed and co-founded the social news website Reddit. Similarly, Julian Assange, founder of the WikiLeaks, which publishes classified or confidential documents in the name of openness, is still pushing for more of an open web. Patch wants to know: Do you support activists, such as Swartz and Assange, pushing to make information freely available on the web? Both Swartz and Assange have landed in trouble with the government …
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Highland Park native and Internet activist Aaron Swartz, who committed suicide at 26 last Friday, was tormented unfairly by the federal government, according to those who spoke at his funeral on Tuesday.
Highland Park native Aaron Swartz was remembered as a brilliant, compassionate mind who inspired friends and family alike during a moving funeral service held at Central Avenue Synagogue on Tuesday. The 26-year-old who committed suicide last Friday was also mourned as a victim of unfair treatment by the government. In the packed to capacity chapel, Swartz's academic mentors, his defense attorney and his father lamented the impending trial Swartz was preparing for that they believe contributed to his depression and led to his decision to hang himself in his New York apartment last week. Swartz co-created the social news website Reddit and founded Demand Progress, an organization devoted to Internet activism and fighting expanded government…
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10:54 am on Wednesday, January 16, 2013
I can respect that Swartz' parents are grieving, but his father is being deliberately blind to the activities in which is son was involved. I care little for Swartz' ideals, the fact is that he committed acts of thievery. And the fact that Aaron Swartz' killed himself is not the fault of the government, MIT, the criminal justice system or even his parents, it is the fault of Swartz himself. … more ›
Aaron Swartz's funeral was held on Tuesday to a packed crowd in Highland Park, his hometown.
Aaron Swartz’s funeral on Tuesday had two recurring messages — the brilliance and impact on the world that the Internet activist had in his 26 years, and the fault of the government in his death. “Aaron wanted so badly to change the world — more than money, more than fame. … He believed you had to see the world the way it really is in order to change it,” Taren Stinebrickner-Kauffman, Swartz’s partner, said in a speech at the funeral. Swartz, a Highland Park native and North Shore Country Day alum, was found dead in his Brooklyn apartment on Friday in an apparent suicide. Swartz had been an Internet pioneer since high school, when he helped to develop the RSS feed, which allows people to subscribe to online information. He also co-created …
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The Internet pioneer passed away this weekend in an apparent suicide. He was a student at North Shore Country Day School and grew up in Highland Park. His funeral is Tuesday morning.
Teachers and administrators at North Shore Country Day School in Winnetka remember former student Aaron Swartz as extremely intelligent and curious. Swartz, an Internet activist, co-creator of social news website Reddit and founder of Demand Progress, was found dead in an apparent suicide on Friday in his apartment in Brooklyn. He was 26. Swartz grew up in Highland Park and attended North Shore Country Day School through 9th grade. “He was a very creative boy and a very clever and bright child,” said Pam Whalley, head of lower school. “He was always engaged in school work. He loved … the creative opportunities he had here.” Whalley also noted that Swartz demonstrated the ability to tackle complex problems at a young age. “He was always …
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7:31 am on Tuesday, January 15, 2013
Excuse me, but Aaron Swartz used his intelligence to try to make the world a much better place. It was the powers that be that decided he was too smart for their selfish goals and needed to be prosecuted and persecuted. Aaron Swartz is a modern American hero. May he rest in peace. more ›
The Highland Park native helped create the RSS feed when he was 14. He was facing federal charges at the time of his death. His funeral is Tuesday at Central Avenue Synagogue.
Aaron Swartz, a Highland Park native and activist for free content on the Internet, was found dead Friday in his Brooklyn apartment in an apparent suicide, according to the Chicago Sun-Times. He was 26. Swartz helped create the RSS feed, which allows people to subscribe to information online, when he was just 14, according to an article in the New York Times. He also helped found Reddit, a social news website. He went on to become an activist for free online content, which landed him in trouble with the federal government in 2011 when he was indicted for gaining illegal access to a subscription-based service that distributes literary and scientific journals and then downloading nearly its entire library CNN quoted a statement from Swartz's…
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3:09 pm on Saturday, January 26, 2013
Sign this petition to make the DOJ accountable for Aaron Swartz death! https://petitions.whitehouse.gov/petition/appoint-independent-investigator-subpoena-power-investigate-instances-doj-bullying-extorsion-and/ZrDymCLq more ›
beauregard
3:57 pm on Saturday, January 19, 2013
ITA. Assanges material public information which is legally due to u.s. citizens thru FOIA. Nobody is entitled to free merchandise (which REALLY) is what was snagged by. The kid. more ›