Aaron Swartz RIP

Lawrence Lessig is a well deserved legend in digital media legal circles. See Prof. Lessig’s comments below, but before you do to better understand the background at least scan the introductory article (or many others like it you will find this morning on the web). Prof. Lessig’s comments go to one of the themes of the course and one of most useful filters/tools as we navigate through the challenges and confusion of the law & ethics of digital media  – the double standards test. In this iteration should those who hold others accountable be held accountable (within the law)?

Ironic that this question, here applied to prosecutorial conduct around IP related court actions finds (far less tragic) application in many digital media situations from take-down demands to IP holders being a bit more lax on “borrowing” the constituant elements of what became their IP then ultimately allowing their work to be “borrowed”…but that topic is most certainly for another day….

Tragic web pioneer commits suicide at 26: Co-founder of popular message board Reddit is found dead in New York after battling depression: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2261277/Aaron-Swartz-Co-founder-popular-message-board-Reddit-dead-New-York-battling-depression.html#ixzz2HnhJL9va 

Prof. Lawrence Lessig’s perspective: http://lessig.tumblr.com/post/40347463044/prosecutor-as-bully

Aaron Swartz obituary from The Guardian: http://m.guardian.co.uk/technology/2013/jan/13/aaron-swartz

Aaron Swartz and the Corrupt Practice of Plea Bargaining: http://www.forbes.com/sites/timothylee/2013/01/17/aaron-swartz-and-the-corrupt-practice-of-plea-bargaining/

Opening arguments in the court of public opinion after Aaron Swartz’ death: http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2013/01/opening-arguments-in-the-trial-of-public-opinion-after-aaron-swartz-death/

Eugene Patterson and Aaron Swartz: Ghosts speaking across the page » Nieman Journalism Lab: http://www.niemanlab.org/2013/02/eugene-patterson-and-aaron-swartz-ghosts-speaking-across-the-page/?

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