Mwanaharakati wa mambo ya uhuru wa
mitandao aliyeanzisha mtandao unaoitwa “Guerrilla Open Access Manifesto” na
mwanzilishi wa RSS na mwanzilishi wa reddit.com amejiua.
Akiwa na miaka 14 tu Aaron Swartz
alianzisha program inayojulikana ka RSS (Rich Site Summary)
(au wengine wanaiita Really Simple Syndication) Hii ni proram ambayo
hutumika hadi leo kuwawezesha watumiaji wa Internet na bolgs kukopi, kuhifana
kutuma machapisho, picha nna mbalimbali kutoka katika mitandao mingine. Kabla
ya ugunduzi huu, ilikuwa si rahisi kwa mtu yeyote kuweza kukopi machapisho ya
mtu mwingie kwenye mitandao.
“RSS feeds benefit publishers by letting them syndicate
content automatically. A standardized XML file format allows the information to be published once and
viewed by many different programs. They benefit readers who want to subscribe
to timely updates from favorite websites or to aggregate feeds from many sites
into one place”. RSS feeds inaweza kusomwa na software inayoitwa RSS reader au
aggregator.
Aaron Swartz aliuza hisa zake kwa kwa
kampuni ya Reddit.com ambayo yeye ni mmojawapo wa waanzilishi wake. Kampuni
hiyo imetangaza leo kwamba Aaron amejiua kwa kujinyonga kwenya apartment yake
huko Brooklyn New York usiku wa kuamkia jana akiwa na miaka 26 tu. Hata hivyo
Aaron alikuwa ameshitakiwa kwa kosa la kuiba mamilioni ya nyaraka za Serikali
na za kitaaluma kwa lengo la kuzifanya zisomwe na kutumiwa kwa namna yeyote ile
na watu wote. Watu wengi wamelaumu waendesha mashtaka wake kwakuwa ndiyo
watakuwa wamesababisha ajiue.
“Aaron Swartz
hanged himself in his Brooklyn apartment Friday night, his family and
authorities said. The 26-year-old had fought to make online content free to the
public and as a teenager helped crease RSS, a family of Web feed formats used
to gather updates from blogs, news headlines, audio and video for users” In
2011, he was charged with stealing millions of scientific journals from a
computer archive at the Massachusetts Institute of
Technology in an attempt to make them freely available.
Usikilizwaji wa kesi yake ulikuwa uanze baadaye
mwezi huu na kama angepatikana na hatia angefungwa hadi miaka 50 jena na kulipa
faini ya dola milioni 4 kutokana na
makosa 13 yaliyokuwa yakimkabili.
Raiaa Marekani na duniani kote wamechukizwa sana
na mashataka yake ambayoo wanaamini ndiyo yaliyompa msongo wa mawazo na
kupelekea kujiua kwake kuwa mastaka dhidi yake si tu uonevu bali pia ni
ukandamizaji wa haki za binadamu na ukandamizaji wa uhuru wa habari.
"Aaron's
death is not simply a personal tragedy. It is the product of a criminal justice
system rife with intimidation and prosecutorial overreach. Decisions made by
officials in the Massachusetts U.S. Attorney's office and at MIT contributed to
his death,"
Hata hivyo mwanasheria waserikali katika jimbo la
Boston hakupatikana kuelezea mkasa huo. Hata hivyo mwanasheria huyo alishawahi
kusema kwamba, wizi ni wizi tu hata kama umeiba nini.
U.S. Attorney Carmen Ortiz in Boston couldn't be
reached for comment. She previously has said that "stealing is stealing,
whether you use a computer command or a crowbar, and whether you take
documents, data or dollars," The New York Times reported Saturday.
Mitandao mingi ya kijamii kama facebook na twiter
na mingineyo imemwelezea Aaron kama mtu shupavu aliyejitolea bila faida
kuhakikisha watu wote wanapata habari muhimu bila malipo na kuzitumia,
kuzihifadhi au kuzichapisha tena ilimradi tu wasite zilikotoka. Wengi wanaosoma
online wanajua ni kwa namna gani wanafaidika kupata habari (materials)
mbalimbali kupitia mitandao, yote haya ni juhudi zilizokuwa zinafanywa na watu
kama Aaron kuhakikisha kwamba hakuna uchoyo wa materials mbali mbali.
Tangu mwaka 2007 Aaron alikuwa akihanngana msongo
wa mawazo kutokana na kufuatwa fuatwa sana na vyomo vya sheria. Aliwahi kusema
hivi kwenye mtandao wake wa facebook.
"Surely there have been times when you've
been sad. Perhaps a loved one has abandoned you or a plan has gone horribly
awry. ... You feel worthless. ... depressed mood is like that, only it doesn't
come for any reason and it doesn't go for any either."
Aaron aliwahi kuiba nyaraka za mahakama kuu na
kuziweka online zisomwe bila malipo wakati serikali ilikuwa ikitoza dola chache
kwa kuweza kusoma nyaraka hizo. Zilikawani kwa muda hadi seeripozificha tena. FBI walimchunguza lakini hawakumtia hatiani
kwa wizi huo. Miaka mitatu baadaye Aaron alikamatwa huko Boston na akashitakiwa
kwa wizi wa nyaraka za serikali pamoja na nyaraka za kitaaluma zaidi ya copi
milioni 5 na majarida ya kitaaluma zaidi ya 1,000 ambayo yote aliyafanya
yaonekane duniani kote na watumiaji waliweza kuyatumia bila kulipia. Waendesha mashitaka walisema kuwa Aaron
Swartz aliingia katika system ya MIT’s November mwaka 2010 na kuiba majarida
mbalimbali na kuyagawa bure kwa njia ya mtandao. Aaron Swarts anatarajia
kuzikwa Jumanne
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