Aaron Swartz was Murdered – He Faced 3 Months in Jail Not 35 Years!

by Scott Creighton

Aaron Swartz did not take his own life. He was murdered in order to save the state the embarrassment of losing their trumped up trial against him. He faced a maximum of 6 months in jail, reduced to 3 for good behavior as is the law, not 35 years as the complicit press will tell you. He was killed so that a movement he helped lead would be crippled right before another SOPA / PIPA internet crushing bill is about to take shape. He was killed because he refused a deal and would have stoked the imagination of the opposition by winning in court. Unfortunately, far too few “alternative” activists out there are willing to make this statement. Activists who owe this young man a great deal as they enjoy a free and open internet which is about to close down forever.

Aaron Swartz was murdered and I am sure he won’t be the last. Perhaps the most obvious lesson here is too the “hacktivist” community at large: when we bust you and drum up charges against you, you turn and serve “the greater good” or… you get “Swartzed”.

Swartz was a leading and effective activist standing opposed to the neo-liberalization of America and the people investigating his death are Billioniare Bloomberg’s “mini-CIA”. Get the picture? I guess he’s lucky he wasn’t renditioned to Djibouti like other dissidents as is the custom under Obama.

Aaron Swartz Found Dead Same Day Verizon “copyright alert program” Leaked

by Scott Creighton

What is the lesson of Aaron Swartz?

While the MSM is busy telling all of you the reasons (fake note from 2007? That’s a reason?) they think Aaron Swartz hung himself this past Friday morning (none of them make sense) I’m going to make a connection few have yet made.

Aaron Swartz may or may not have been all he was cracked up to be. But he did play a part in stopping SOPA and PIPA and he warned us that though that battle had been won, the war was far from over.

He may never have known how right he was. The same day they found his body, Verizon’s “6 strikes plan” was leaked. Coincidence?

SOPA, PIPA, H.R. 1981 and Megaupload: Legislating and Enforcing the Fascist State

by Scott Creighton

SOPA and PIPA are two of the most widely misunderstood pieces of legislation to recently come down the D.C. corporatist pipeline as of late (later I will write about that and the new pending legislation submitted by the same senator). Meanwhile, the recent shuttering of Megaupload and the subsequent arrest of Kim Dotcom is being portrayed as something that it clearly isn’t.

But what it is, is much worse.

The point is, you aren’t getting the full story on any of these matters even on so-called dissident conservative, libertarian, or “progressive” sites. So the question becomes, “why?”

SOPA & PIPA Updates

by Scott Creighton

Harry Reid announced that SOPA and PIPA would be shelved for now until a “compromise” is reached.

Of about 40 co-sponsors for the Pipa bill, a handful withdrew their support on Wednesday, as thousands of websites participated in a co-ordinated online protes. BBC

One of the creators of the world wide web denounced SOPA (after the fact) claiming that it was detrimental to human rights.

“If you’re in America then you should go and call somebody or send an email to protest against these (censorship) bills because they have not been put together to respect human rights as is appropriate in a democratic country.”  Berners-Lee

US Senator Ron Wyden wrote a letter to the internet and those who chose to participate in a largely symbolic blackout protest. Wyden has been opposed to SOPA from the start.

Today thousands of websites have chosen to voluntarily go offline or modify their home pages with public service information.  Some have called this a stunt.  I say it’s a brave and poignant reminder that we can’t take the Internet for granted…

… Protect IP (PIPA) and the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) are a step towards a different kind of Internet.  They are a step towards an Internet in which those with money and lawyers and access to power have a greater voice than those who don’t.  They are a step towards an Internet in which online innovators need lawyers as much or more than they need good ideas.  And they are a step towards a world in which Americans have less of a voice to argue for a free and open Internet around the world. Ron Wyden

The United States has forced the arrest of a Dutch citizen in New Zealand over copyright claims. 37 year-old Kim Dotcom, head of Megaupload was arrested today by authorities in New Zealand on charges of violating American copyright laws. They took nearly 100 million in assets from Dotcom and his associates while Dotcom himself has retained the services of a lawyer who defended Bill Clinton and Enron both.

Bob Bennett, the man who defended Bill Clinton during the Monica Lewinsky scandal, was on Thursday retained to represent Megaupload.

Speaking to the Guardian, Bennett said: “All I am at liberty to say at this stage is that we will be vigorously defending the case.”

The attorney’s former clients also include collapsed energy giant Enron, and former defence secretaries Clark Clifford and Casper Weinberger. Guardian