Last person in the series “Silenced speakers” is not so much a speaker, but I think that because his effort to blogging and RSS it is kind of respect to his legacy. And I’m talking about a legacy considering free information to us all. The person in scope is of course internet guru and Reddit founder Aaron Swartz:

Aaron Hillel Swartz (November 8, 1986 – January 11, 2013) was an American computer programmer, writer, political organizer and Internet activist.

Swartz was involved in the development of the web feed format RSS,the organization Creative Commons,the website framework web.pyand the social news site Reddit, in which he was an equal partner after its merger with his Infogami company.Swartz also focused on sociology, civic awareness and activism.In 2010, he became a research fellow at Harvard University’s Edmond J. Safra Research Lab on Institutional Corruption, directed by Lawrence Lessig.He founded the online group Demand Progress, known for its campaign against the Stop Online Piracy Act, and later worked with the activist groups Rootstrikers and Avaaz. He was also a contributing editor to The Baffler.

On January 6, 2011, Swartz was arrested by MIT police on state breaking-and-entering charges, in connection with the systematic downloading of academic journal articles from JSTOR.Federal prosecutors eventually charged him with two counts of wire fraud and 11 violations of the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act,charges carrying a cumulative maximum penalty of $1 million in fines plus 35 years in prison, asset forfeiture, restitution and supervised release.

On January 11, 2013, two years after his initial arrest, Swartz was found dead in his Crown Heights, Brooklyn apartment, where he had hanged himself.

Source

Why I want to bring this up is because the future of Internet cannot be censorship and big brother kind of dystopia. Free information belongs to all people and agreements like ACTA or SOPA or CISPA are destroying this free information and privacy.

Here is a report from Aaron’s funeral, where reporter quotes Aaron’s father that government killed his son:

Do you really think that this man who talks so passionately committed a suicide? I think that Aaron’s take against big corporations was too much for them and he paid it with his life:

Here is another comment about Aaron’s and other activist deaths on thetruthergirls:

I personally don’t think that Aaron Swartz committed a suicide. I think he was murdered, because he had so much information and abilities to spread it. So when you go against big corporations it is possible that you end six feet under. I think that Aaron was a great activist and I just wanted to bring his story to the public and remember, the Truth will always win. R.I.P. Aaron Hillel Swartz.