Aaron Swartz (November 8, 1986 – January 11, 2013)
The phrase ‘Internet Warrior’ has very negative connotations, associated with abusive writers and posters who say all sorts of rude things via a keyboard. However, if the phrase was used properly the Aaron Swartz would be the epitome of a ‘Internet Warrior’ as he constantly fought for the Internet to be free from censorship and unrestricted in use.
He was celebrated as one of the founders of Reddit and advocated for open and unrestricted usage of the Internet from an early age. Coming from a family in which computing was a big element Aaron Swartz had shown great promise with his interest in Internet culture. Aaron Swartz was involved in a number of projects but from his actions it was clear that he was more of a social entrepreneur and activist rather than a power hungry capitalist, which most tekky superstars are seen to be at the moment.
He was arrested for hacking in January 2011 for downloading research information from JSTOR. Although he maintained that he was innocent, if he was found guilty he could have been facing a lengthy time in prison. This seemed to have contributed to his sporadic suffering of depression and in one of his last blogs on his website he apparently alluded to being in ”mental pain’.
Although most people who use the Internet will never have heard of Aaron Swartz they will have been affected by Aaron Swartz and for this alone he can feel that he has contributed to the advancement of human knowledge and his journey has been a great journey for a young man.