too bad Gates and Jobs didn't end up behind bars. the pirates of silicon valley indeed.
Below is an email from Taren Stinebrickner-Kauffman, who worked with the organization Demand Progress to create a petition on SignOn.org, the nonprofit site that allows anyone to start their own online petition. If you have concerns or feedback about this petition, click here.
Sign the petition Dear Friend,
Will the next big innovator, like Steve Jobs or Bill Gates, end up in prison or worse? It's a big question Congress is debating right now.
My partner, Aaron Swartz, was accused of checking out too many articles (4.8 million), too fast, from an online academic library called JSTOR, to which he had authorized access. He never used or distributed the articles and later returned them. For that, he faced 35 years behind bars and endured two years of relentless persecution.
On January 11, 2013, facing decades in prison on trumped-up charges, Aaron made the tragic choice to take his own life. He was only 26.
The outdated Computer Fraud and Abuse Act (CFAA), which Congress is debating right now, made this tragedy possible. The law gives absurdly broad powers to corporations and prosecutors to criminalize an array of online activity. That includes breaching a website's terms of service—that long fine print you "agree to" but never read.
All of us who knew and loved Aaron never want to see anyone suffer this kind of abuse of power again. So, we're urgently calling on Congress to reform the CFAA.
Please sign our petition on SignOn.org urging Congress to rein in overzealous prosecution and stop criminalizing the internet. Then, pass it on to your friends.
Aaron was an innovator, entrepreneur, and social justice advocate who co-authored RSS 1.0 (the web's format for sharing and distributing content) at the age of 14, co-founded the social news website Reddit, and led the fight to stop SOPA and PIPA—the Internet censorship bills.
His fight to stop SOPA and PIPA started with a petition just like this one, so we know this can work. In fact, there's already been a strong, bipartisan reaction to Aaron's death and legislation is in the works to reform the CFAA right now. But it won't happen without a big public push.
We can't get Aaron back, but can you help us honor his memory and stop future abuses of power by signing this petition and sharing it with everyone you know?
The petition I created on SignOn.org to Congress says:
Reform the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act to remove the dangerously broad criminalization of online activity and protect us all from the abuse of corporate and prosecutorial power.
Click here to add your name to the petition, and then pass it along to your friends.
Thank you for listening.–Taren Stinebrickner-Kauffman
This petition was created on SignOn.org, the progressive, nonprofit petition site. SignOn.org is sponsored by MoveOn Civic Action, which is not responsible for the contents of this or other petitions posted on the site. Demand Progress didn't pay us to send this email—we never rent or sell the MoveOn.org list.
Want to support our work? MoveOn Civic Action is entirely funded by our 7 million members—no corporate contributions, no big checks from CEOs. And our tiny staff ensures that small contributions go a long way. Chip in here.
This email was sent to Matt Love on February 7, 2013. To change your email address or update your contact info, click here. To remove yourself from this list, click here.
I want to play in your town for you and 2 of your friends.
http://eventful.com/performers/matt-love-/P0-001-000156481-4/demands
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