Aaron Swartz, born on November 8th, 1986, was an activist dedicated to an open Internet, freedom and transparency. 

He was hounded by the US government for sharing JSTOR research articles that we largely paid for, but that a small number of corporations have locked up in for-profit journals. He spent the fortune he received from the sale of Reddit on his legal defense.

Living with depression and facing 50 years in prison and $1 million in fines, he took his own life. He died far too young with so much left to accomplish.

On November 12-13 (Saturday & Sunday), the Internet Archive will host an Aaron Swartz Day and International Hackathon at their office in San Francisco. Speakers include Cory Doctorow, Chelsea Manning and Molly de Blanc.

Attending is free, but you must register. If you cannot attend in person, you can watch the livestream over the two days, and registration does not seem to be required. The talks and the hackathon run from 11am to 6pm both days.

You can participate in the hackathon. If you cannot attend in-person, you can attend remotely via their Glitter chat room.

Please attend some of the Aaron Swartz Day activities this weekend (when you aren’t at the Boston Anarchist Bookfair :-), and help keep the memory of Aaron Swartz and all he fought for alive.

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