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Please edit freely to help make this article more valuable for the world to better understand Aaron's vision and Lawrence Lessig's ongoing campaign. I believe more people show hear about both and we should do what we can to create a more comprehensive understanding of the full picture of the significance of Aaron's vision & movement so that we can be more capable of carrying it forward.

Introduction

Aaron Swartz was a gifted programmer and activist who campaigned to help improve access to public domain information and empower the majority of people to access information in light of increasing challenges to access and inequality carried by the cost of acquiring academic data. On Jan. 11, 2013 he committed suicide at age 26 after mounting pressure from legal entities working to prosecute him for alleged crimes associated with granting access to academic journals and articles in JSTOR. After his death Lawrence Lessig has spoken widely and campaigned to help share Aaron's story and build a movement to reduce the corrupting influence of money in politics through the MayDay movement.

Aaron Swartz:

Aaron had a simple vision of improving the world for everyone by liberating the common person from the restrictions and challenges associated with accessing vast libraries of new as well as historical academic articles and scientific papers which often require large amounts of money or red tape to find or read.

Lawrence Lessig:

Lawrence Lessig worked with Aaron over many years, first meeting him at conferences and later working directly with him on several initiatives up to the time of Aaron's death.

Events Leading up to Aaron's Passing:

After Aaron's Passing:

Why is Aaron's story important to us:

What can you do:

(from Ben Wikler's post in BoingBoing.net 1/13/2015)

"Aaron left a guide for how to do this, both in his own writing and in how he led his life.

First: Stay curious.

Second: Don’t accept things as they are, or assume they’re that way for a good reason.

Third: Become good at something. And then use it to make a difference.

Fourth: Ask yourself what you could do to make the biggest difference in the world.

And lastly: Stay alive."