Five Great Injustices

Like many in our community I am experiencing some very powerful emotions right now. Grief over Aaron, compassion for the survivors who loved him, but also a great deal of rage at the system that allowed this to happen. Aaron was a freedom fighter. It's up to us to carry his fight forward.

I believe there are five great injustices that Aaron was battling. I'd like us to unify to combat those injustices:

1: Prosecutorial Overreach

Carmen Ortiz is one of the very few female Hispanic US Attorneys. No doubt she's had to fight hard her whole life to get where she was.

She must be held accountable for her actions, however just suppose for a moment that Carmen is a regular person, who took up her position never intending to destroy the life of a young genius. How do you suppose she came to this? What motivated her? What was she thinking to herself when she got up in the morning to go to work?

If we can find answers to these questions we can start to address the real cause of the problem with the system.

2: The Computer Fraud and Abuse Act

The CFAA is clearly in need of reform. What changes should be made to this law, and how can we contribute to its reform? We can sign and publicise its petition, but can we do more? Can we assist people like Weev who are currently facing charges?


Demand Progress is already mobilising on 1 & 2, with a single petition covering both.

Over 40,000 people (as at Jan 19) have called for the removal of US Attorney Carmen Ortiz at Remove United States District Attorney Carmen Ortiz from office for overreach in the case of Aaron Swartz. | We the People: Your Voice in Our Government

Reform the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act to reflect the realities of computing and networks in 2013. | We the People: Your Voice in Our Government has fewer than 3,500 signatures.

3: Guilty Until Proven Rich

Aaron's wealth was drained dry by the ludicrous amounts of money required for his defence. How can justice be served when only the rich can afford good legal representation?
How can the USA return to the ideal of "liberty and justice for all"? What can we do to help those who can't afford to defend themselves?

4: Sequestration of Public Domain Knowledge

Aaron's motivation for liberating information from JSTOR and PACER was to ensure that all people, whether rich or poor, in first world nations or in the global south, had access to our global body of knowledge. Only then can everyone have the same opportunity to contribute to the growth of that knowledge. What can we do to make public domain information freely available to all?

5: Persecution of Copyright Violators

The current mechanisms for managing copyright content are clearly inadequate. What can we do to move the world towards better systems for rewarding artists for their talents, like Creative Commons? Is law reform needed here, or do we just need better tools? And how can we help those who are currently being persecuted?

I would love to see us unite under a common symbol or banner, so we can identify who in our local community is also fighting for freedom. Maybe scales symbolising justice inside a five pointed star, with a circle around it.

What do you think?