Sean O' Brien, Free Software Foundation:
Aaron Swartz would have turned forty this year. In the time since his passing, Swartz's contributions to free software, internet standards, and the freedom to share knowledge have remain enormously important. It is particularly striking that some of the world's largest companies now rely on technology Swartz helped to develop. These companies have used his work in their quest to build proprietary large language models (LLMs), while inviting serious criticism about their own collection and use of copyrighted material. In light of the enormous profits generated from the collection and commercialization of human knowledge in the past year, the contrast between how Swartz was treated in comparison to major technology corporations deserves closer scrutiny.
A good reminder that a legal system is not a justice system.
Perhaps Aaron's father put it best:
If you look at Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak, they started by selling a Blue box, which was a thing designed to defraud the phone company. If you look at Bill Gates and Paul Allen, they initially started their business by using computer time at Harvard, which was pretty clearly against the rules.
The difference between Aaron and the people I've just mentioned is that Aaron wanted to make the world a better place. He didn't just want to make money.
- Robert Swartz
