His life's work was focused on the accessibility and dissemination of knowledge.
This isn't what I normally post, but it's a summary of some morning reflections since Monday is the anniversary of @aaronsw's death.
He had a big impact on the world (and me). He's someone you should know.
Here's a tribute.
His life's work was focused on the accessibility and dissemination of knowledge.
Here's the preamble to his "Guerilla Open Access Manifesto".
He was the definition of mission, even if it meant flying in the grey areas of hactivism.
Through a library loophole he downloaded 2.7 million documents and released them to the world.
PACER still charges to my knowledge, but @binarybits continued the mission with a browser extension that gives free access through the @FreeLawProject
He was a central organizer in stopping the SOPA legislation, which....
He sat on @Wikimedia's board of trustees, helped create @SecureDrop for whistle blowers, and VictoryKit for organizing social change campaigns.
He sparked many missions of openness and many other actors were a part of the movement, although as Sci Hub found recently, the movement has many skirmishes.
Snark courtesy of @conaw:
https://t.co/O3WzoZ5tAh
Love to see big tech living their values. https://t.co/NdyKzZMYlh
— Conor White-Sullivan \U000100cf\U0001f1fa\U0001f1f8 (@Conaw) January 8, 2021
That event - he wrote a program that pulled research papers from JSTOR in accordance with their terms of service using his laptop and MIT's open internet and open campus.
JSTOR asked for prosecution to be dropped, but US Attorney Carmen Ortiz kept going, even though...
Lack of evidence sure didn't stop her from threatening the harshest penalties for a plea though.
"Somehow, we need to get beyond the 'I’m right so I’m right to nuke you' ethics that dominates our time.
That begins with one word: Shame.
One word, and endless tears."
The only explanation I have is that this person, while certainly not perfect, was the one person I've met (or at least idealized) who is the...
In an era where truth has jumped from that which frees us then to a four letter word then to an amorphous concept, we need more of the pursuit of truth, not less.
We keep forgetting...
Our world is too big and our problems too large for truth to be binary and our knowledge to be closed.
...anyways....
We should try to be more like the best of him, especially when we appear to be standing on the heads of many pins, a whisper from falling into chaos.
Have a great weekend and here's a poem from @timberners_lee
https://t.co/uO5wvbCIbt
