The Boy Who Could Change the World: The Writings of Aaron Swartz

330 Pages·2016·1.62 MB·English

by  Aaron Swartz

Aaron Swartz (1986–2013) was an American computer programmer, a writer, a
political organizer, and an Internet hacktivist. He was involved in the
development of RSS, Creative Commons, web.py, and Reddit. He helped launch
the Progressive Change Campaign Committee in 2009 and founded the online
group Demand Progress. He is survived by his parents and two brothers, who
live in Chicago.
Lawrence Lessig is Roy L. Furman Professor of Law at Harvard Law School.
He was the director of the Edmond J. Safra Center for Ethics at Harvard
University and a founding board member of Creative Commons. He lives in
Cambridge, Massachusetts.
This eBook is licensed to Anonymous Anonymous, [email protected] on 04/01/2016
THE BOY WHO COULD
CHANGE THE WORLD
THE WRITINGS OF AARON SWARTZ
AARON SWARTZ
With an introduction by
LAWRENCE LESSIG
This eBook is licensed to Anonymous Anonymous, [email protected] on 04/01/2016
This eBook is licensed to Anonymous Anonymous, [email protected] on 04/01/2016
First published in the UK by Verso 2016
Introduction © Lawrence Lessig 2015, 2016
All other part introductions and postscripts © the individual contributors 2015, 2016
Excerpt from Aaorn Swartz’s A Programmable Web: An Unfinished Work © 2013 Morgan & Claypool
Publishers. Used with permission.
All rights reserved
The moral rights of the author have been asserted 1 3 5 7 9 10 8 6 4 2
Verso
UK: 6 Meard Street, London W1F 0EG
US: 20 Jay Street, Suite 1010, Brooklyn, NY 11201
www.versobooks.com
Verso is the imprint of New Left Books ISBN-13: 978-1-78478-496-6 (PB)
eISBN-13: 978-1-78478-497-3 (UK)
British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data A catalogue record for this book is available from the
British Library Book design and composition by Bookbright Media This book was set in Aries and Gill
Sans Printed in the UK by CPI Mackays
This eBook is licensed to Anonymous Anonymous, [email protected] on 04/01/2016
CONTENTS
Introduction by Lawrence Lessig
Free Culture
Introduction by Benjamin Mako Hill and Seth Schoen
Counterpoint: Downloading Isn’t Stealing
UTI Interview with Aaron Swartz
Jefferson: Nature Wants to Be Free
Guerilla Open Access Manifesto
The Fruits of Mass Collaboration
The Techniques of Mass Collaboration: A Third Way Out
Wikimedia at the Crossroads
Who Writes Wikipedia?
Who Runs Wikipedia?
Making More Wikipedians
Making More Wikipedias
Code, and Other Laws of Wikipedia
False Outliers
(The Dandy Warhols) Come Down
Up with Facts: Finding the Truth in WikiCourt
Welcome, Watchdog.net
A Database of Folly
When is Transparency Useful?
How We Stopped SOPA
Computers
Introduction by David Auerbach
Excerpt: A Programmable Web
Privacy, Accuracy, Security: Pick Two
Fixing Compulsory Licensing
Postel’s Law Has No Exceptions
Squaring the Triangle: Secure, Decentralized, Human-Readable Names
Release Late, Release Rarely
Bake, Don’t Fry
Building Baked Sites
A Brief History of Ajax
djb
A Non-Programmer’s Apology
Politics
Introduction by David Segal
How Congress Works
Keynes, Explained Briefly
Toward a Larger Left
Professional Politicians Beware!
The Attraction of the Center
The Conservative Nanny State
Political Entrepreneurs and Lunatics with Money
Postscript by Henry Farrell
Media
Introduction by Cory Doctorow
The Book That Changed My Life
The Invention of Objectivity
Shifting the Terms of Debate: How Big Business Covered Up Global
Warming
Making Noise: How Right-wing Think Tanks Get the Word Out
Endorsing Racism: The Story of The Bell Curve
Spreading Lies: How Think Tanks Ignore the Facts
Saving Business: The Origins of Right-wing Think Tanks
Hurting Seniors: The Attack on Social Security
Fighting Back: Responses to the Mainstream Media
What Journalists Don’t: Lessons from the Times
Rachel Carson: Mass Murderer?