Computer Code Poem: The Hacktivist Aaron Swartz
* tw- death / self harm / depression / death by hanging
LindaAnn LoSchiavo
"Information is power. But like all power, there are those who want to keep it for themselves."
— Aaron Swartz
//In memory of Aaron Swartz, 1986-2013
void aaron_swartz(){
if (access_info == restricted){
printf("A missionary, a manic maven, whose touch has been sawed off the world wide web.\n");
return;
}
else {
printf("Your unborn canticles still echo in the code.\n");
aaron_swartz();
}
}
int main() {
aaron_swartz();
return 0;
}
————
Born in Highland Park, Illinois, Aaron Hillel Swartz (November 8, 1986 – January 11, 2013) was a computer programmer, writer, political organizer, and an Internet hacktivist. During late 2010 and early 2011, Swartz used JSTOR, a digital repository, to download numerous academic journal articles from MIT's computer network. On July 11, 2011, Swartz was indicted by a federal grand jury on charges of fraud, unlawfully obtaining information from a protected computer, and recklessly damaging a computer. Bankrupted by his trial and facing a $1,000,000 fine and lengthy prison sentence, Swartz hung himself in his Brooklyn, NY apartment.
No suicide note was left. Swartz was 26 years old.
Native New Yorker LindaAnn LoSchiavo (she/her), a four time nominee for The Pushcart Prize, has also been nominated for Best of the Net, Balcones Poetry Prize, an Ippy, a Firecracker Award, the Rhysling Award, and Dwarf Stars.
She is a member of SFPA, The British Fantasy Society, and The Dramatists Guild.
Titles for 2022: "Women Who Were Warned" (Cerasus Poetry) and "Messengers of the Macabre: Hallowe’en Poems" (Audience Askew).
Forthcoming in 2023: "Apprenticed to the Night" (UniVerse Press), "Felones de Se: Poems about Suicide" (Ukiyoto Publishing), and "Vampire Ventures" (Alien Buddha Press).
Forthcoming in 2024: "Cancer Courts My Mother" (Penumbra / Stanislaus State College).
Forthcoming in 2025: "Eros and His Entourage" (Naked Cat Press).
- links -
Twitter: @Mae_Westside
LindaAnn Literary: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCHm1NZIlTZybLTFA44wwdfg
AMZ: https://www.amazon.com/LindaAnn-LoSchiavo/e/B084WSGD5K/