This boy SAVED the INTERNET… but couldn't save himself.

10 years ago, he was persecuted by his government, and ultimately paid with his life.

Aaron Swartz is a modern hero that most people DO NOT KNOW.

But they should.

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Aaron was creative, focused, and brilliant.

At 14, he invented RSS; He dropped out of Stanford; At 19, he was in the first Y Combinator class; He co-founded Reddit.

Most likely, if he were alive today, he would be involved with #Bitcoin.

But that’s not EVEN 1% of what he did for us 🙏

Let’s take a look 👇

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From a young age, Aaron believed in an OPEN INTERNET. In computers as a tool for LIBERATION.

"But wait, wasn’t the internet always open?"

No.

Believe it or not, there was a time when they wanted you to REGISTER your ID before you could browse or send an email.

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He believed that PUBLIC LEGAL RECORDS and SCIENTIFIC RESEARCH should be accessible to everyone.

But in the U.S.,

• 98% of scientific articles are behind paywalls; and
• ~80% of legal records are too.

Imagine being sued and still having to pay to view the documents?

https://video.nostr.build/2af872c7a7d1b74ce0fb8d42369a87df45a7ee2d23df006d287b58ac60fcfe26.mp4

Aaron's war had 3 major battles.

The first was against PACER.

A legal records database.

PACER is PAID... but it was "free" in 17 public libraries.

With friends, Aaron wrote a script on a USB drive, plugged it into a USB port, downloaded 2.7 million documents... and SET THEM FREE.

https://video.nostr.build/21b565dd1742bc950748be2ac0e0ce2868f4b94c54d1da9321a198c49fe85d1e.mp4

No charges were made against the group.

But the FBI began to take notice.

That had only been the beginning. That boy would still challenge the system.

The following year, Aaron would enter the biggest fight of his life — and the greatest battle in internet history against censorship ✊

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"SOPA/PIPA" 👉 if you're over 20, you probably still remember these acronyms.

A bill to "combat piracy"... which was just an excuse for the government to shut down ANY SITE, without warning.

Some companies loved the idea.

But those who loved the internet fought back.

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And then, something wonderful happened.

We still knew how to fight against online censorship.

In a coordinated response, the biggest websites on the internet "went on STRIKE."

Wikipedia and Reddit went offline. Google turned black.

Protests also erupted in the STREETS.

But...

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... but people have short memories.

This battle was won.

However, the NEXT one would be the LAST for young Aaron.

This MIT security camera was the final straw that ruined his life 👇📹

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JSTOR was Swartz's final target: the largest database of academic papers in the world.

Aaron wrote a script to download MILLIONS of papers, over the course of months, using his MIT access, in a small room.

MIT has a rebellious culture.

But the FBI could no longer tolerate the boy's defiance.

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With the video evidence, the U.S. prosecution charged Aaron with 13 crimes. Up to 50 years in prison.

In January 2011, he was arrested by undercover agents near the Harvard campus.

From then on, he was legally tortured.

Two years later, he would be found dead at home.

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"Aaron would be 38 years old today.

He was accused of 'pirating' scientific papers funded with public money.

Facing up to 50 years in prison, he took his own life.

Those he inspired continue to democratize access to science.

Let us remember him."

*These are the words of Susan, his mother.

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After his death, the charges were dropped by the government.

Aaron never considered entering a 'plea deal'. He would have faced millions of dollars in legal costs.

The father of the internet, Tim Berners-Lee, published a short poem at the time that says it all:

“The world was a little worse for his passing,
But a lot better for his being.”

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Aaron wasn’t a unanimous figure. You may disagree with his methods.

But he was faithful to his ideal.

He was genuine. Firm in what he believed.

He was a person who used his prodigious skills not to enrich himself, but to make the internet fairer, and the world a better place.

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Aaron had worked with Virgil Griffith (former Ethereum, now imprisoned for "teaching about crypto" to North Koreans).

He knew Elizabeth Stark (from Lightning).

He was friends with Zooko.

And he wrote about #Bitcoin — on the DAY he was arrested (1/6/11)! 😢

http://www.aaronsw.com/weblog/squarezooko

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Curious? To learn more about the story, start with this documentary (on YouTube) 👇

[https://youtu.be/9vz06QO3UkQ](https://youtu.be/9vz06QO3UkQ)

We’ll finish with an excerpt from the "Manifesto for Free Access," by Aaron himself:

"Information is power. But, like all power, there are those who want to keep it for themselves. There is no justice in following unjust laws. It’s time to come to the light, and, in the tradition of civil disobedience, declare our opposition to the private theft of public culture.

We must take information, wherever it is, make our copies, and share them with the world."

RIP, Aaron ✊

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When 1 sat = $1 it's not exactly a micropayment any more.

Sub-sat payments will fix that though.


The flip-side is that it becomes less useful for micropayments.


101 on how gold was confiscated:

You had to turn it in for dollars by a deadline prior to dollar devaluation, and there were massive prison consequences for not turning it in, but little resources in terms of investigating who didn’t turn it in. That would be expensive. So it was fear based. Focusing on illegality and tail risks on edge cases more than enforcement on average.

Institutions had to comply immediately, since it’s all visible. So the government broke liquidity in the domestic gold market, which was enough for their purposes. Gold became a hard-to-trade illegal relic for those that held it.

If a small family hodled some extra bars for 40 years until it became legal again, they did okay.

But can the government track bitcoin in the 2020s better or worse than gold in 1930s for enforcement purposes? That’s the right question.

And don’t just think of confiscation. Think of 70% selective taxes and things like that. Far more within the current rule of law. That’s the sophisticated approach. Don’t take it. Selectively tax it by a lot.

Those are the politics to push against from a bitcoin perspective.


Japanese government have been trying for years to stoke inflation. Now they are surprised when prices go up fast than wages.

The currency is on a slow grind to zero as they continue to print money to infinity, and they can't stop it because if they raise rates everyone will see they've been swimming naked for a long time.

It would be good if they at least pretended to try doing something to fix it. The only way out is increasing productivity (and that's a long road). Instead they just want to continue papering over the issues to stay in power.


Amazing work!


I’m confident to speak for everyone in the #Bitaxe community when I say that no one would ever create a token. Unfortunately they’re using the Logo we’ve created.

Please do not buy this and become exit liquidity. We are hardcore #Bitcoin maxis ONLY! Don’t fall victims to scams.
https://m.primal.net/Kykn.jpg


Adam Back and Martti Malmi  👂 https://image.nostr.build/b36467fb6db3f77f031c9e51b01b9dacf9a171ce82787f033c455c1f2ae56b36.jpg


Psyched for today

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Solo Satoshi is pledging to give away the very first #Bitaxe Gamma that we receive on the NOSTR platform!!!

Like, share, and follow us!

1.2 TH/s of raw desktop power. You don’t want to miss this! We’re decentralizing #Bitcoin mining together!
https://m.primal.net/KqLu.jpg


📣 Tickets Alert / チケット販売開始❗

🎟 Bitcoin Tokyo 2024のチケット販売を開始しました！割引価格でゲットできる機会をお見逃しなく🫡

🎟 Tickets for #Bitcoin  Tokyo 2024 are now on sale! Purchase early to secure exclusive benefits 🫡

https://bitcoinconference.tokyo


One day, it would be nice to see a well-capitalized challenge to the Bank Secrecy Act on 4th amendment grounds.

The Founding Fathers would be rolling in their graves if they saw that people need a license to transmit money, or that the government thinks it has the right to surveil and censor everyone’s money and transactions.

The default is privacy. To infringe on someone’s privacy should require probable cause and come with checks and balances. Ubiquitous surveillance shouldn’t be the default, since it enables tyranny. https://image.nostr.build/59d050b8cf8f75a3d469e83812a0be6681bcad506e63bc0bf4417cfece14d0b8.jpg


Bitcoin Conversions is officially rolling out today!

Square 🤝 Cash App 🤝 Bitcoin

Soon millions of Square sellers will be able to automatically stack sats from their card sales, passively accumulating bitcoin simply by running their business.

A historic day for Block, Square sellers, and bitcoin!

Congrats to the team and everyone involved 🚀 https://image.nostr.build/66cb3d5a0fd8ae956471ff5b5efc3dc5ae13bdb369e4c07d95b0d5a415d48a30.png


Is this a way to measure nostr engagement? Sign me up anyway.


Tsunami warning for Sea of Japan after a huge quake (M7.4) near Ishikawa about 20 minutes ago.

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Oh my! I hope you get the roof sorted quickly.


Meet BREAD, our new zine that’s flipping the convo about money. Issue #1 is all about reintroducing bitcoin.

We partnered with a crew of talented artists and writers to discuss bitcoin in ways you’ve maybe never seen before.

Check out the digital version and get your hands on a free, limited-edition print copy before they’re gone.

We hope you enjoy our first batch of BREAD.

#getyourBREAD
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F*ck me.

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The fact that Elon Musk's title is "Technoking" and Jack Dorsey's title is "Block Head", speaks volumes.

One is about ego, and one is not. But more importantly we can see the difference in their actions more than titles from there.

Elon wants to build Twitter or the shitty name "X" into the next WeChat, with himself as the leader. He has literally said this. I used to be able to report bots on Twitter easily for many years, but now I have to show a drivers' ID to report someone that copies my persona even as a 600k following paid blue check, and so I don't bother anymore, and therefore bots proliferate. And if you don't pay for reach, you get devalued. Only in the past few months have I had to show my ID to report my countless bot copiers if I want to report them on Twitter/X. And so their rate of removal has decreased. If my Nym differs a bit from my name, well LET'S FILE SOME TPS REPORTS!!!! (which wasn't previously the case). And so as bots proliferate, and as Musk fails to contain bots as he promised he would and bragged about with memes, he will instead reference his own self-created bot problem as a reason to require even more ID requirements and try to build his US version of the Chinese Communist Party WeChat app. This is exactly what governments do. In my professional opinion, after careful consideration, Elon Musk can ::check notes::  politely go fuck himself, and those who worship him should reconsider what exactly they show blind obedience toward.

Meanwhile, nostr:npub1sg6plzptd64u62a878hep2kev88swjh3tw00gjsfl8f237lmu63q0uf63m helps improve the Bitcoin network and the Nostr network and has put capital into them in various ways, and Bitcoin and Nostr have no leader. The fact that Bitcoin and Nostr have no leader, is specifically why Jack puts time and capital into them. He funds many different companies, and for bitcoin, Cash App has been among the networks to incorporate Lightning early. Yes, Cash App deals with domestic compliance issues. But they are trying, and they are early. Their network can connect to many others, like an email provider using SMTP to connect to many others. They're open, they're trying. And now they are making Bitkey, which helps with self custody. They're certainly not a directional enemy of freedom in the way that Twitter/X has been.

Companies that incorporate open networks with various levels of compliance trump companies that purposely don't adopt open networks and instead push new ID requirements, in my book.

+10 Jack
-10 Elon
Any day of the week.


Literally what bitcoin did. https://youtu.be/fJiK4d5sy6Y


To celebrate our node's 100th channel, we are giving anyone who boosts this note ⚡500 sats⚡

Our budget for this celebration is 100,000 #sats but that could be increased.

So get your thumbs (and wallets) ready to boost!
------------------------
And now a little about our #node nostr:npub1l0ans4w4psmcv6hsqjz2v3mxszhputlsfn4emkynv3jlwrfez59s35q0ug

Number of channels: 100
Current capacity: 7.54 #BTC
Terminal Web score: #623

We offer a 1 million sat capacity channel for free for 90 days.

We can also provide you with virtually any capacity for a whole year (for a fee). Get enough routing traffic on this channel and we'll renew it for one more year absolutely FREE!

We offer the lowest prices anywhere, check for yourself:

1m channel: FREE for 90 days
2m channel: 8k sats/year
3m channel: 9k sats/year
4m channel: 10k sats/year
5m channel: 15k sats/year
6m channel: 20k sats/year
7m channel: 25k sats/year
8m channel: 30k sats/year
9m channel: 35k sats/year
10m channel: 50k sats/year
Larger than 10m channel? Please DM us.

Compare our prices to places like LNBig and Coinconcept, among others, who only provide channels for 30 days.

We're here for you so DM us at anytime. Or if you prefer, you can find us on the Telegram app (user: @LNServer)

https://image.nostr.build/6c71946d72d1e32ba87869a5c403656479652481cfbf1fe7fb882ea766afb38a.jpg


I really want to love fountain.fm, but it's the worst-behaved android app I've used in years.

When switching to the app it consistently "hangs" with a black screen for ~5-10 seconds, causing my ENTIRE PHONE to be unresponsive. Then the audio gets killed.


#[2] 👀