![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
usernamenumberI am kind of fuming right now, maybe more than I should be, but I'm pissed and posting something here is the closest thing I can do to doing something about it. Also, if anyone reading this is more clued in than I am and can tell me I'm wrong, by all means do so.
Demand Progress, an action group that I've supported on IT-related issues in the past, has been sending a lot of emails out to its members of late about the fact that it's former exec director, tech wunderkind and info-freedom activist Aaron Swartz was arrested, as they put it, for "downloading too many journal articles" from an academic journal site, JSTOR. You can read an example of what they've been sending people, and the associated petition here.
That's actually not what I'm pissed about. What I'm pissed about is summed up in the email I just sent DP:
I am a supporter of Demand Progress and a believer in your mission. However, I am feeling a bit sick right now, and am coming to doubt the relationship of trust upon which that support is founded. Why did I have to research other sources, realizing that the story as you told it was too ridiculous to be true, to find that AARON BROKE INTO AN MIT SERVER CLOSET, with intent to abuse what academic access he had (which had apparently been revoked anyway, since he used a fake ID) to release the archive to non-subscribers (unless you'd like to tell me he was just downloading it for a personal backup...)? Did you truly feel these weren't relevant facts, or was trying to paint a full and accurate picture of what happened really that far from your minds?
You have, to put it bluntly, lied to me, and to all of your supporters by leaving this information out. If you can't garner sympathy without telling the whole story, then perhaps that should tell you something.
I sympathize with Aaron's goal. I want to live in a world where academic information is freely available to the pubic; BUT my support for Demand Progress is as a force for changing the laws, not breaking them, nor trying to excuse those who do so by manipulating the facts in disingenuous attempts to rally support.
Sincerely,
--Brad
P.S. Here are my sources, should you wish to dispute them. If I'm wrong about all this, it would be a welcome revelation:
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/07/20/us/20compute.html
http://blogs.forbes.com/timothylee/2011/07/20/aaron-swartzs-reckless-activism/
So, there it is. That's my attempt to put the whole story out there. The people at DP should be ashamed of themselves, and they should know better than to send out manipulative, one-sided crap like this and just hope that no one reading it actually does any research.
Demand Progress, an action group that I've supported on IT-related issues in the past, has been sending a lot of emails out to its members of late about the fact that it's former exec director, tech wunderkind and info-freedom activist Aaron Swartz was arrested, as they put it, for "downloading too many journal articles" from an academic journal site, JSTOR. You can read an example of what they've been sending people, and the associated petition here.
That's actually not what I'm pissed about. What I'm pissed about is summed up in the email I just sent DP:
I am a supporter of Demand Progress and a believer in your mission. However, I am feeling a bit sick right now, and am coming to doubt the relationship of trust upon which that support is founded. Why did I have to research other sources, realizing that the story as you told it was too ridiculous to be true, to find that AARON BROKE INTO AN MIT SERVER CLOSET, with intent to abuse what academic access he had (which had apparently been revoked anyway, since he used a fake ID) to release the archive to non-subscribers (unless you'd like to tell me he was just downloading it for a personal backup...)? Did you truly feel these weren't relevant facts, or was trying to paint a full and accurate picture of what happened really that far from your minds?
You have, to put it bluntly, lied to me, and to all of your supporters by leaving this information out. If you can't garner sympathy without telling the whole story, then perhaps that should tell you something.
I sympathize with Aaron's goal. I want to live in a world where academic information is freely available to the pubic; BUT my support for Demand Progress is as a force for changing the laws, not breaking them, nor trying to excuse those who do so by manipulating the facts in disingenuous attempts to rally support.
Sincerely,
--Brad
P.S. Here are my sources, should you wish to dispute them. If I'm wrong about all this, it would be a welcome revelation:
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/07/20/us/20compute.html
http://blogs.forbes.com/timothylee/2011/07/20/aaron-swartzs-reckless-activism/
So, there it is. That's my attempt to put the whole story out there. The people at DP should be ashamed of themselves, and they should know better than to send out manipulative, one-sided crap like this and just hope that no one reading it actually does any research.
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
no subject
Date: 2011-07-20 05:11 pm (UTC)2) The link to the survey has an ID which maps to your name in it.
no subject
Date: 2011-07-20 05:16 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-07-20 05:31 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-07-20 06:55 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-07-21 02:47 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-07-20 09:08 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-07-21 03:33 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-07-21 04:37 am (UTC)