Aaron Swartz
Born 1986 · Age 40
American computer programmer, entrepreneur, writer and Internet activist; early RSS contributor, Creative Commons architect, co-founder/co-owner of Reddit, founder of Demand Progress and activist for open access; prosecuted over JSTOR downloads and died in 2013.
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Life & Career Timeline
Born in Highland Park, Illinois
Aaron Hillel Swartz was born to Susan and Robert Swartz.
Created 'The Info Network' (early user-generated encyclopedia)
Built a Wikipedia-like site as a pre-teen which gained early attention.
Won ArsDigita Prize for The Info Network
The Info Network won the ArsDigita Prize for useful, educational, collaborative sites.
Co-authored RSS 1.0 specification
Became a member of the working group that authored the RSS 1.0 web-syndication spec.
Contributed to Creative Commons early architecture
Became involved with Creative Commons and helped with its technical architecture.
Made Lingua Franca archives publicly accessible
When Lingua Franca closed, wrote software to make its archives accessible to the public.
Started contributing to Wikipedia (username AaronSw)
Began regular participation on Wikipedia under the handle AaronSw.
Enrolled at Stanford University
Began undergraduate studies at Stanford (left after first year).
Applied to Y Combinator and launched Infogami
Proposed Infogami (a flexible CMS/wiki for structured data) as a YC Summer Founders project.
Created web.py web framework
Developed web.py to support Infogami and other Python web projects; later released as free software.
Merged Infogami with Reddit; became Reddit co-founder/co-owner
Infogami merged with Reddit to form Not a Bug; Swartz gained co-founder status and worked on Reddit.
Moved to San Francisco to work under Condé Nast / Wired
Relocated with the company to continue working on Reddit at Wired/Condé Nast offices.
Reddit (Not a Bug) acquired by Condé Nast
Condé Nast acquired Reddit based largely on Reddit's success; Swartz participated in the sale.
Left/asked to resign from Reddit/Wired
Found corporate office life uncongenial and was asked to resign in January 2007.
Launched Jottit with Simon Carstensen
Re-attempted a Markdown-driven CMS in Python with Jottit.
Founded Watchdog.net
Launched Watchdog.net to aggregate and visualize political data for citizens.
Published 'Guerilla Open Access Manifesto'
Wrote and circulated a manifesto arguing for liberating scholarly works and other resources.
FBI investigation into PACER downloads closed with no charges
FBI investigated the PACER downloads for about two months and filed no charges.
Downloaded PACER documents (bulk retrieval)
Used a script to download federal court documents (reported ~2.7 million docs), released them to Public.Resource.Org; FBI investigated but ultimately did not press charges.
GPO suspended PACER free-trial (after downloads)
Government Printing Office suspended the PACER free trial pending evaluation after the bulk downloads.
Helped launch Progressive Change Campaign Committee
Worked on new progressive political organizing efforts and experimented with online activism.
Co-founded Demand Progress
Founded Demand Progress, an online advocacy group focused on civil liberties and government reform.
Named Research Fellow at Harvard's Safra Research Lab on Institutional Corruption
Conducted research during academic year 2010–11 under Lawrence Lessig at Harvard.
Began large-scale JSTOR download activity via MIT network
IPs within MIT began sending hundreds of PDF requests per minute to JSTOR; activity later tied to Swartz; authorities referenced hundreds of thousands of sessions.
Filed FOIA request on Chelsea Manning treatment
Filed a Freedom of Information Act request seeking records about Chelsea Manning's treatment.
Arrested by MIT Police (state breaking-and-entering charges)
Arrested near Harvard/MIT after connecting a laptop to an MIT network closet to download JSTOR articles.
JSTOR settled with Swartz; he surrendered downloaded data
JSTOR declined to press charges and reached a settlement in which Swartz surrendered the downloaded files.
Indicted by federal grand jury (initial federal charges)
Federal indictment included counts of wire fraud, computer fraud and other violations.
Indicted by Middlesex County Superior Court (state charges)
A state grand jury returned charges including breaking and entering and grand larceny (later dropped to avoid impeding federal case).
State prosecutors dropped original two state charges
Middlesex County prosecutors dropped two earlier state charges to avoid impeding federal prosecution.
Demand Progress / anti-SOPA campaign reaches ~300,000 petition signers
Demand Progress petition opposing SOPA gathered ~300,000 signers as part of the broader anti-SOPA/PIPA protests.
Plea negotiations; prosecutors offered 6-month recommendation for guilty plea
Prosecutors reportedly offered a deal recommending six months if Swartz pled guilty to 13 counts; Swartz declined (dates of offers spanned 2011–2012).
Remaining state charges (Nov 2011) dropped (to avoid federal case interference)
Additional state charges were dropped March 8, 2012, per reports, again to avoid interfering with federal prosecution.
Keynote: Freedom to Connect (F2C) – 'How We Stopped SOPA'
Delivered the keynote speech in Washington, D.C., describing online activism that helped stop SOPA.
Superseding federal indictment adding nine counts
Federal prosecutors filed a superseding indictment increasing the number of felony counts and potential exposure to up to 50 years and $1M in fines.
Posthumous honors: Internet Hall of Fame, ALA James Madison Award, EFF Pioneer Award
In 2013 Swartz was posthumously honored by multiple organizations for his work on open access and Internet freedom.
Hackathons and grassroots memorial events (2013)
Multiple hackathons and community events were held around his birthday and after his death to continue his work.
Congressional inquiries and Oversight Committee letters (Issa, Cummings)
Members of Congress questioned DOJ and MIT about prosecutorial decisions and handling of the case; bipartisan scrutiny followed.
Aaron's Law proposed (effort to amend Computer Fraud and Abuse Act)
Legislative proposals (e.g., Rep. Zoe Lofgren's Aaron's Law) were introduced to narrow CFAA criminalization in response to the case.
Think Computer Foundation / scholarships and memorial funds established
Scholarships and funds were created in Swartz's memory to support open access and tech policy work.
Open Access activism surge (#PDFTribute and scholarly posting)
Scholars and activists posted works and promoted open access in tribute to Swartz (notable #PDFTribute activity).
Prosecution reportedly rejected Swartz counter-offer (reported)
News accounts state prosecutors rejected a counter-offer shortly before his death (timeline reported by defense/family sources).
Death by suicide in Brooklyn apartment
Aaron Swartz was found dead on January 11, 2013; death ruled suicide by hanging.
Federal prosecutors dropped charges after his death
Following his death, federal prosecutors announced they would no longer pursue charges against Swartz.
Funeral services and eulogies (Highland Park, IL)
Funeral held at Central Avenue Synagogue; Tim Berners-Lee delivered a eulogy.
Memorial at Cooper Union (large public memorial)
A large memorial in New York City featured many speakers from tech and activism communities.
Memorial at Internet Archive (San Francisco)
Internet Archive hosted a memorial with tech and archival figures speaking.
Memorial on Capitol Hill (House of Representatives)
A memorial at the Cannon House Office Building included Senators and Representatives as speakers.
MIT Abelson panel report released
MIT released a comprehensive report about MIT's handling of the case and its decisions.
JSTOR released 300 partially redacted documents (evidence release)
JSTOR provided partially redacted documents used as evidence in the case to the U.S. Attorney's Office and these were later released publicly.
Lawrence Lessig led a memorial walk across New Hampshire
Lessig led a walk in memory of Swartz and to rally for campaign-finance reform.
White House declined petitions to remove prosecutor
Petitions asking for the firing of U.S. Attorney Carmen Ortiz and others related to the case were declined by the White House.
Art commemorations and busts (e.g., Ahmet Öğüt's work)
Artists and institutions created works commemorating Swartz and his ideals around information freedom.
Statue of Aaron Swartz unveiled at the Internet Archive (posthumous)
A statue organized by Pablo Peniche and Lisa Rein was unveiled in the Internet Archive lobby in San Francisco.
Key Achievement Ages
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