Aaron was facing charges, and a really bad deal, and he took his life. He was never sentenced because there was no time for that, but it's obvious that things weren't going well for him, and that he was attacked disproportionally.

Meta is still facing investigation and will go to court still, and will very likely face charges for torrenting the data, same as Anthropic. They have not been sentenced because there was been no trial yet, it's still under investigation, because it will be a harsher penalty if it can be proved that they uploaded in addition to downloaded.

I think this is inaccurate enough to consider it misinformation (IMHO).

Yes, it is obvious that we all should fight Meta and praise Aaron Swartz. And it's true that the legal system is fucked up, and someone with power and money is in total advantage. But as despicable as Meta is, I don't think that saying wrong things is going to be the way to fight for our rights. There are already good enough arguments if we stay true to the facts.

Tsk. Aaron Schwartz was a person, silly - and thus subject to laws in the USA.

Mark Zuckerberg directed his company Facebook to perform the illegal action. Facebook is a corporation - and thus writes the laws in the USA, while of course being exempt to them (barring occasional small fines to keep the rabble believing they're not).

One day maybe the rest of the US public will wake up to the fact that it's a corporate oligarchy and take some action, but I don't think it will be until some really irrefutable and impactful issues occur. Bread and circuses, as they say. Or maybe Walmart and Netflix to update the idiom.

Everyone knows that laws are just for the poors.

Mark Zuckerberg doesn't get enough credit for being one of the most garbage humans to ever exist. He's done so much damage to the human collective, and yet gets to skate and not be blamed. Enjoy your chunk of Hawaii dickhead.

Remember also during the pandemic that a bunch of publushers got up in arms about archive.org opening up their library to be unrestricted, to make sure access to books was easier at a time when people who relied on libraries could no longer access them.

They then talked authors into supporting the lawsuit due to "lost revenue".

After a few months the authors realised it had done literally no damage and several asked the publishers to drop the lawsuit. But it turns out this wasn't for the authors, it was for publishers, who see online libraries as a threat to be stopped.

One should also note that Aaron did it to share scientific knowledge, meta did it to generate more profit

update based on comments: perhaps better to say probably share and and/or gain access to scientific data for non profit research purposes

My grandfather was a fortunate man all his life. He enjoyed a lot of success in his personal life, in business, and in every aspect. We didn't talk a whole lot, but when he started feeling sick and we knew the end was coming, he opened up quite a bit.

One day I went to visit him and he motioned for me to come closer. I moved closer to his bed, the bed we both probably knew that would be his deathbed. He had a stern look on his face, and he gave a gravelly whisper: "Son, do you want to know the secret to good fortune?"

The hair on the back of my neck stood up. I knew I was only seconds away from learning whatever combination of wisdom, luck and skill that he had worked on his whole life.

He told me: "If you want to be successful, first make a billion dollars."

Since then, I've noticed he was absolutely correct. Ever notice how the world itself seems to bend to the will of billionaires? From that day on, I was a changed man and I vowed to get that billion dollars for myself.

Aah, yes BUUUUT, Aaron did it to help his fellow humans, whereas Yuckerberg is doing it to enrich billionaires, it's not comparable!

I despise meta and the fact they're not being punished for this.

He didn't just download stuff, he installed a server on their network to do it. A bit different.

His punishment was still beyond the pale.

Remember to incorporate before doing anything illegal

The rules aren't real. Laws are made up.

The Internet's Own Boy.

RIP, Aaron.

It's up to the middle class to start making things right. Slaughter these motherfuckers who hold seats at the table of the above-the-law elites. Their boots crush our necks with more pressure Every. Single. Day.... It's high-time to fuck some motherfuckers up so we don't have more stories like Aaron.

I was a very early Reddit user and remember when all this went down. If he could only see what Reddit has been slowly morphed into... literally the complete opposite of what the founder envisioned.

Funded by Peter Thiel, Co-founder of PayPal and data analytics firm, Palantir, a major contractor for the CIA. Google is another major tech player in what I call "The War for Reality", a multi-prong assault on the U.S. populace and democracy spanning everywhere from the Epstein honeypot to the Fed to Neil Tyson and Billy Graham with our "special relationship" with Israel acting as a key foothold in this operation.

RIP Aaron.

Aaron swartz was a free speech absolutist. Not so sure he would have been on the side you want him to be on.

Aside from the whole r/jailbait grossness.

Has anyone noticed that Aaron looks a lot like John Mulaney?

Sweetest boy we were ever privileged to have. Do all you can to keep information free.

Well, it's his own fault for not being a billionaire!

"Took his life"

Aaron Swartz would have never taken his own life; he was murdered for the danger that he posed to those in power.

Wasn't he also a bisexual icon?

Hamburger time for Mark.