Discussion on:

Aaron Swartz, activist for Internet freedom: You will be missed

It's about power, about monopoly in information. Aaron Swartz is the first to fall, but not the last, I'm afraid. In any event, he may not be forgotten.

There's a difference between the word of the law and how it is enforced, especially in courts. Pick a topic and try to determine how what you see in the courts "naturally" flows from the constitution on down to whatever "decision."

If you begin asking the government where they claim their authority for activity XYZ comes from, curious and interesting things start to happen.

Aaron's case is all the more egregious, as the "injured party" was not interested in pursuing him for restitution. No injured party (with a valid complaint) = no case.

Prostitutors (as they are called in some circles) are waaay over the line in exceeding any legitimate authority. They say this is a "nation of laws," not of men... tell that to an up and coming federal judge looking to notch up any/every conviction imaginable.

Probably 80% of all "crimes" are imagined. Todays 'outrage of the day' is the grade school girl who made "terroristic threats" by pointing a pink Hello Kitty soap bubble gun at her classmates:

http://boingboing.net/2013/01/21/pennsylvania-kindergartener-us.html

It's too late for Aaron, but I implore anyone facing similar to realize you don't 'go at them' head on. Prosecutors and their hired help (the judge) make it seem as though the game is Sumo; toe to toe and the bigger mass wins. In reality the game is Aikido, the mass of officious mumbo-jumbo coming at you can't stand against a few well placed questions.

The outcome may still go wrong for you, but at least you'll know for a fact that we are a nation of men, not laws.

EDIT: this just came through my inbox: http://fff.org/explore-freedom/article/did-the-government-drive-aaron-swartz-to-suicide/

To be fair, that's the first mention I've seen that MIT had not "declined to prosecute," but no mention of whether they did... it still looks like the prosecutor led the charge.

Is it paranoia that leads me to question the Governments actions? Are we nave to not acknowledge that there new bills being prepared and preparations being made? Persecution, harassment are just tactics; incarceration, death the desired end result. It's just too convenient to not question a move that in Chess would be considered an end game move.

Aaron in his talk alluded to that many times.

Political leaders are motivated by power, money, and not much else. Mass media never tell you anything you need to know. They only tell you things their owners want you to know. Trusting them is utter madness.

It seems something happens after being assimilated into government.

You've heard the stories, eg an average senator has to spend 78% of his time soliciting campaign contributions and the like. They get owned pretty fast.

Your average person will also fall for any number of 'perks' offered them, which (especially) in DC is the fast track to compromises that can be blackmailed.

I can tell you from 1st hand sources that this is the case. I can't mention names, but one pol was "outed" when he wouldn't lay off a certain line of investigation involving the pinnacles of the military-industrial-congressional complex.

The media suddenly revealed all manner of embarrassments, all of which were situations instigated by a staffer whom party leadership INSISTED this person take on, one of the permanent power base that persists despite the outcome of elections.

Other words, they set the guy up, long before there was any need to have 'dirt' on the guy. They swiftly put a congress critter's bad behavior in the bank, to use if the idiot pol ever gets the idea they actually have any power and attempt to use it.

Sad but 100% the case. Probably less so at state and local levels. There I believe it's graft and corruption (sweetheart business deals with kickbacks) that compromises the average fallible human occupant of whatever office.

What would the solution be? And the solution has to be provided by the people that are involved.

There's a number of things that come to mind, all of them designed to prevent 'public service' from becoming a lucrative cash cow. For eg make congress critters subject to all the laws they foist on the rest. They do not contribute to social security, they have probably the sweetest retirement/health package on the planet.

They were allowed to vote all that for themselves. If they actually followed the foundations they claim give rise to their power (constitution) this ill gotten largess wouldn't have happened.

In fact there should be no retirement of health benefits provided to anyone in elected office. That would keep a lot of the greedy bastards away from the get-go.

So called term limits would be built into a correctly operating system. All time spent on government matters comes at the expense of your personal life, in which you are trying to make a living and save up for retirement. You'd not want to hang around the 'hallowed halls' too long lest your personal finances suffer.

Another is absolutely no contributions from outside the geographical area you serve. No corporate money either, only people, with some kind of maximum limit and full disclosure. You should be able to interview everyone financially supporting a candidate to discern whether you see this as a good thing or not.

Basically take the money, profit motive and power to vote riches for yourself out of their hands.

There's a lot more to it, but basically, given human nature and it's history, it's going to have to get a LOT worse before there's any hope of getting any better.

Fortunately, or unfortunately if one is squeamish about massive, sudden changes to their reality, the end of this corrupt ride is very near. I doubt we'll be talking about anything other than the complete tanking of the US economy (and it's 'dollar') come April or May this year.

The fundamentals are there, and obviously the govt is gearing up for massive civil unrest. (they've stocked up on billions of hollow point 'killer' rounds of amo in the last 6 months, for eg)

None of this is inevitable. But just as in Jesus' day, 80% of the people who are getting crapped on are utterly clueless to the fact, indeed actually support the regime that oppresses them.

Nothing new under the sun. There is hope this time, given the internet and the likes of anonymous.. and great minds like Aaron Swartz, fighting for the freedom of ideas.

My son told me about the ammunition hording and that was disconcerting.

"prepping" as it is called has become an industry in and of itself! Just watch "Doomsday Preppers" on NatGeo(or maybe History Channel) I can't remember which station. Many Many folks have been "hoarding" ammo for years! Most of them don't think they'll need to actually use it; it will be more valuable than gold if the economy collapses. They will barter it like money!

It's the government.

I finally caught your drift!

When democracy, for whatever reason (disinformed and/or disinterested public, for example) doesn't work as it should, elected politicians are not really in charge. They have no power, they are just hired public faces of behind-the-scenes plutocracy, lighting rods for public anger.

If you want to find out who's really in power, you have to follow the money. The questions you have to ask are: To whom flows most of the money? Who controls the flow of money? Who gets to use the freshly printed money first?

Our ex-governor, Jesse Ventura, taught me "follow the money." And it has been accurate.

If it's power and money (in that order) it's oligarchy, if it's money and power, it's plutocracy.

Michael Kassner and Tech Republic. Thank you for your comments on Aaron Swartz.

Why is it that we recognize the extraordinary contribution of some individuals but don't commemorate their achievements? Let's not allow his memory to die. Let's make sure his name always shows up right up there with the founders and major contributors of internet and the freedoms it brings. We should have a Aaron Swartz minute of silence on the web every year. I'm not kidding; a whole minute of silence on the net will be like eternity. Even 10 seconds is enough.

Wanted to mention that Congress is trying to pass a law related to this:

http://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2013/01/aarons-law-violating-a-sites-terms-of-service-should-not-land-you-in-jail/267247/

could not have known about it had without you.

Aaron's video you linked is kinda long at 23 minutes but well worth the watch, let me re-supply the link now:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fgh2dFngFsg