Aaron Swartz: The First Martyr of the Free Information Movement

Lawrence Liang from the Alternative Law Forum discusses with NewsClick the tragic loss of Aaron Swartz. Liang underlines Aaron was a victim of a system in which privatisation of knowledge is the norm and its transgression as an act of resistance, as an act of self exploration has always been met by harsh punishment. Aaron was actively involved and committed to the idea of free knowledge. He was working out ways of democratising access to information, to technology which has incredible consequences for science, for knowledge as such. Liang sees Aaron's act of downloading 4 million articles from JSTOR, intending to make them public, as a stupendous act of generosity. Aaron's death is linked to the war against freedom of information that the US government has launched.