From e988524cf882aecececeb3e52f3abd6758c05f36 Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001 From: Sebastiano Tronto Date: Wed, 11 Jan 2023 08:33:36 +0100 Subject: Added blog post --- src/blog/2023-01-11-aaron-swartz/aaron-swartz.md | 88 ++++++++++++++++++++++++ src/blog/2023-01-11-aaron-swartz/goam.txt | 62 +++++++++++++++++ src/blog/blog.md | 4 ++ src/blog/feed.xml | 7 ++ 4 files changed, 161 insertions(+) create mode 100644 src/blog/2023-01-11-aaron-swartz/aaron-swartz.md create mode 100644 src/blog/2023-01-11-aaron-swartz/goam.txt diff --git a/src/blog/2023-01-11-aaron-swartz/aaron-swartz.md b/src/blog/2023-01-11-aaron-swartz/aaron-swartz.md new file mode 100644 index 0000000..051b738 --- /dev/null +++ b/src/blog/2023-01-11-aaron-swartz/aaron-swartz.md @@ -0,0 +1,88 @@ +# Aaron Swartz + +[Aaron Swartz](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aaron_Swartz) passed away +ten years ago, at the age of 26. During his short life he contributed +to multiple projects, including +[Creative Commons](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Creative_Commons), +[RSS](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RSS), +[Markdown](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Markdown) and +[reddit](https://www.reddit.com). + +If you are interested in learning more about Aaron's life, +you can watch the biographical documentary +[*The Internet's Own Boy*](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Internet%27s_Own_Boy), +which is freely available online. You can also still access +[Aaron's website](http://www.aaronsw.com) and read +[his old blog posts](http://www.aaronsw.com/weblog). + +I don't want to write a long post about Aaron's life. +Instead, I'll take this chance to talk about +[Open Access](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Open_access), which was +one of Aaron's main battles as an activist. I'll try to be concise +and go straight to the point. + +A word of warning: even though I pledged not to write "political" posts +in this blog, I do have a strong opinion on this subject, and I won't +try to hide it. + +## Open access + +Most academic journals make scientific articles available at very high +prices, making them practically unaccessible for people who are not +affiliated with a university in a wealthy country. To make things worse, +the people involved in producing these articles - the scientists who +write them and those who review them - do not get any revenue from this. + +This system made sense before the Internet, when distributing journals +actually required some effort. The only reasons academics rely on it +nowadays are prestige and having their work reviewed. The latter is a +necessary step for science, and not many peer-reviewed journals offer +open access. + +I believe the existence of academic journals that do not offer open access +is unacceptable in the present day. As Aaron Swartz wrote in his 2008 +[*Guerrilla Open Access Manifesto*](./goam.txt), sharing knowledge is +a moral imperative. I do stand by this principle. + +The *Manifesto* may have had little practical +consequnces, but it has probably inspired +[Alexandra Elbakyan](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alexandra_Elbakyan) +to create [Sci-Hub](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sci-Hub) in 2011. +Sci-Hub is an online repository that gives free access to millions +of research papers. This is of course illegal in most countries, but +for many people it is the only way to access this material. For legal +reasons the website is forced to change domain from time to time, but +it is currently accessible at [sci-hub.ru](https://sci-hub.ru). + +Thanks to the Internet we could all have easy access to an incredible +amount of knowledge, but some of it is still locked behind a paywall. +I am hopeful this will change, and the people who fought against this +system will be remembered as heroes, not criminals. But the path to get +there is still long. + +## Eulogy + + +*Aaron is dead.* + + +*Wanderers in this crazy world,* + +*we have lost a mentor, a wise elder.* + + +*Hackers for right, we are one down,* + +*we have lost one of our own.* + + +*Nurtures, careers, listeners, feeders,* + +*parents all,* + +*we have lost a child.* + + +*Let us all weep.* + + -- [Tim Berners-Lee](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tim_Berners-Lee) diff --git a/src/blog/2023-01-11-aaron-swartz/goam.txt b/src/blog/2023-01-11-aaron-swartz/goam.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..e04e9c5 --- /dev/null +++ b/src/blog/2023-01-11-aaron-swartz/goam.txt @@ -0,0 +1,62 @@ +Guerilla Open Access Manifesto + +Information is power. But like all power, there are those who want to keep it for +themselves. The world's entire scientific and cultural heritage, published over centuries +in books and journals, is increasingly being digitized and locked up by a handful of +private corporations. Want to read the papers featuring the most famous results of the +sciences? You'll need to send enormous amounts to publishers like Reed Elsevier. + +There are those struggling to change this. The Open Access Movement has fought +valiantly to ensure that scientists do not sign their copyrights away but instead ensure +their work is published on the Internet, under terms that allow anyone to access it. But +even under the best scenarios, their work will only apply to things published in the future. +Everything up until now will have been lost. + +That is too high a price to pay. Forcing academics to pay money to read the work of their +colleagues? Scanning entire libraries but only allowing the folks at Google to read them? +Providing scientific articles to those at elite universities in the First World, but not to +children in the Global South? It's outrageous and unacceptable. + +"I agree," many say, "but what can we do? The companies hold the copyrights, they +make enormous amounts of money by charging for access, and it's perfectly legal — +there's nothing we can do to stop them." But there is something we can, something that's +already being done: we can fight back. + +Those with access to these resources — students, librarians, scientists — you have been +given a privilege. You get to feed at this banquet of knowledge while the rest of the world +is locked out. But you need not — indeed, morally, you cannot — keep this privilege for +yourselves. You have a duty to share it with the world. And you have: trading passwords +with colleagues, filling download requests for friends. + + + +Meanwhile, those who have been locked out are not standing idly by. You have been +sneaking through holes and climbing over fences, liberating the information locked up by +the publishers and sharing them with your friends. + +But all of this action goes on in the dark, hidden underground. It's called stealing or +piracy, as if sharing a wealth of knowledge were the moral equivalent of plundering a +ship and murdering its crew. But sharing isn't immoral — it's a moral imperative. Only +those blinded by greed would refuse to let a friend make a copy. + +Large corporations, of course, are blinded by greed. The laws under which they operate +require it — their shareholders would revolt at anything less. And the politicians they +have bought off back them, passing laws giving them the exclusive power to decide who +can make copies. + +There is no justice in following unjust laws. It's time to come into the light and, in the +grand tradition of civil disobedience, declare our opposition to this private theft of public +culture. + +We need to take information, wherever it is stored, make our copies and share them with +the world. We need to take stuff that's out of copyright and add it to the archive. We need +to buy secret databases and put them on the Web. We need to download scientific +journals and upload them to file sharing networks. We need to fight for Guerilla Open +Access. + +With enough of us, around the world, we'll not just send a strong message opposing the +privatization of knowledge — we'll make it a thing of the past. Will you join us? + +Aaron Swartz + +July 2008, Eremo, Italy diff --git a/src/blog/blog.md b/src/blog/blog.md index eddcd85..135dc86 100644 --- a/src/blog/blog.md +++ b/src/blog/blog.md @@ -3,6 +3,10 @@ [RSS Feed](feed.xml) +## 2023 + +* 2023-01-11 [Aaron Swartz](2023-01-11-aaron-swartz) + ## 2022 * 2022-12-30 [Getting my blog ready for 2023](2022-12-30-blog-ready) diff --git a/src/blog/feed.xml b/src/blog/feed.xml index f7edc90..12297bc 100644 --- a/src/blog/feed.xml +++ b/src/blog/feed.xml @@ -8,6 +8,13 @@ Thoughts about software, computers and whatever I feel like sharing + +Aaron Swartz +https://sebastiano.tronto.net/blog/2023-01-11-aaron-swartz +Aaron Swartz +2023-01-11 + + Getting my blog ready for 2023 https://sebastiano.tronto.net/blog/2022-12-30-blog-ready -- cgit v1.3