Aaron Swartz worked hard for our mutual benefit through sharing and he also introduced people to free software. Aaron kindly granted me an interview some years ago for my old radio show. Facing a prison sentence and what Lawrence Lessig rightly calls a bully of a prosecutor, Swartz hanged himself on January 11, 2013. Swartz will be missed.

Reaction from around the web:

• Internet Archive
• Lawrence Lessig
• Common Dreams
• The Nation magazine
• Richard Stallman on Aaron Swartz
• Democracy Now!’s interview with Lawrence Lessig about Swartz’s prosecution which he calls “the product of a criminal justice system rife with intimidation and prosecutorial overreach”.
• James Boyle’s response to Orin Kerr, former prosecutor, which also references the Lessig response
• On bulk downloading and the Internet Archive