Remembering Aaron Swartz

"Guerilla Open Access Manifesto"

"Information is power. But like all power, there are those who want to keep it for themselves. The world`s entire scientific and cultural heritage, published over centuries in books and journals, is increasingly being digitised and locked up by a handful of private corporations..."

"Those with access to these resources - students, librarians, scientists - you have been given a privilege. You get to feed at this banquet of knowledge while the rest of the world is locked out. But you need not - indeed, morally, you cannot - keep this privilege for yourselves. You have a duty to share it with the world... "

"Meanwhile, those who have been locked out are not standing idly by: You have been sneaking through holes and climbing over fences, liberating the information locked up by the publishers and sharing them with your friends."

"But all of this action goes on in the dark, hidden underground: it`s called stealing or piracy, as if sharing a wealth of knowledge were the moral equivalent of plundering a ship and murdering its crew. But sharing isn`t immoral - it`s a moral imperative. Only those blinded by greed would refuse to let a friend make a copy."

"Large corporations, of course, are blinded by greed. The laws under which they operate require it - their shareholders would revolt at anything less. And the politicians they have bought off back them, passing laws giving them the exclusive power to decide who can make copies..."

Aaron Swartz

Tim Berners-Lee