this post was submitted on 02 Aug 2025
1234 points (99.0% liked)
Piracy
155 readers
9 users here now
Don't link to sites directly.
Guides/ Link directories:
founded 4 weeks ago
MODERATORS
you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
view the rest of the comments
Aaron Swartz would have never taken his own life; he was murdered for the danger that he posed to those in power.
I read a piece a while back that included a lot of comments from people close to him. They said that the federal case against him severely demoralised him, because even if his punishment ended up being minor, it would be enough to basically destroy his ability to lobby/campaign for the issues he was passionate about, effectively destroying his career. He was also apparently someone who was quite uncomfortable with the limelight, and the case against him made him into the kind of public figure who can get no respite from the public gaze. I can't imagine how overwhelming that must've felt.
I've seen no evidence to suggest that Aaron Schwartz didn't take his own life. However, morally, I would agree that he was murdered.
I also seem to remember reading something like that. I had to go digging for it again. Was it "Requiem for a Dream" in The New Yorker?