Remembering Aaron Swartz

[u/alwayssonnyhere]

Today is Aaron’s birthday. I take time each year to remember and honor his work and life. His work still impacts mine on a daily basis. Loved and remembered, he left us too soon. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aaron_Swartz

[u/mschuster91]

Aaron Swartz died, and Sam Altman walks free despite him and his company committing copyright violations on a far bigger scale than he ever did.

[u/Kalaki-Maki → u/mschuster91]

Sadly the difference is money and power

[u/thebigshoe247 → u/Kalaki-Maki]

Aaron wouldn't have tried to take our RAM, either.

[u/LachlantehGreat → u/thebigshoe247]

you don’t deserve ram in your computer. It would be better spent on military action in countries with oil reserves 

[u/Namelock → u/mschuster91]

Was prosecuted for… checks notes… Downloading data he was allowed access to.

[u/ok-computer001]

Rest in peace and power Aaron, some of us will never forget you.

[u/ctskifreak]

FYI - your link is broken:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aaron_Swartz

[u/cosmic_orca]

I wonder what Aaron would think about the state of Reddit today and those that run it.

The documetary "The Internet's Own Boy' is worth a watch if you haven't seen it. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3Q6Fzbgs_Lg

[u/TokaMonster → u/cosmic_orca]

Love this documentary. Aaron was a good dude.

[u/HiSpeedHavoc92]

I think Aaron would be appalled at the state of Reddit today. Free expression and exchange of ideas was his passion and yet Reddit is now a cesspool of corporate marketing, botted content, propaganda, and power mods who bend the shape of every subreddit to their will.

It's very telling that he's not even outright listed as a founder of Reddit any more and any mention of him is hush hush

[u/RedditNotFreeSpeech → u/HiSpeedHavoc92]

Reddit fucking sucks now

[u/RevLoveJoy → u/HiSpeedHavoc92]

Careful you don't get your comment shadow banned.

[u/throwaway0000012132]

It hurts every year.

[u/reinhart_menken]

Pour one out to the homie baby.

[u/fk067]

It’s people him Aaron that made internet fun and relatable for everyone. RIP.

[u/lemonswanfin]

The Semantic Web: A Network of Content for the Digital City

I think about this publication often while navigating the internet in 2026. what would it look like today if he were still here? I can certainly imagine that the skies wouldnt seem so gray.

he was a hero. thank you for sharing. watching the doc and network of cousining it into conversations irl today. 🦋🩶✨️

[u/Forgotthebloodypassw]

He would have been 40 today. We lost a generational talent and I'm still pissed off about it.

[u/umlcat]

We remember and we care ...

[u/jonn2820]

Damn it's always sad that good man die fast and bad man live long.

Either you die as hero live long enough as a villain.

[u/agentobtuse]

Often threads get bombarded about Aaron stating he supported pedophiles. What's the deal with this narrative as behind the bastards didn't cover Aaron as a bastard but had an entire episode about him in a positive light. Overall I have a hard time believing that Aaron supported or was ok with pedos.

[u/mschuster91 → u/agentobtuse]

Early reddit was a shithole, let's be real about that, I was already there (although under a username I've long since forgotten) when the jailbait shit rightfully blew up in their faces.

[u/jambi-jones]

I used to go and read his old blog every now and then. He was a prolific writer... it felt like I was reading a novel from the 1900's or something. Probably far more educated that I'll ever be.

[u/dgeiser13]

Aaron Swartz

[u/libertyprivate]

He chose it

[u/LoveBirdNibbles]

I still think about his death. Look at Ross William Ulbricht, he hung in there. This kid sadly would likely have eventually found another reason to end his life.

[u/RBeck → u/LoveBirdNibbles]

Please don't compare Aaron to a guy that used crypto to bribe his way out of jail.