Patch Chatter

Do You Support Activists Pushing For An Open Web?

Internet activists such as Highland Park's Aaron Swartz and WikiLeaks' Julian Assange want information freely available on the web. Patch wants to know if you support their actions? Join the discussion in the comment section below.

As an Internet activist, Aaron Swartz fought to make information freely available on the web. The 26-year-old from Highland Park, who committed suicide on Jan. 11, founded Demand Progress, an organization devoted to Internet activism and fought expanded government oversight of the Internet. He also helped create the RSS feed and co-founded the social news website Reddit.  Similarly, Julian Assange, founder of the WikiLeaks, which publishes classified or confidential documents in the name of openness, is still pushing for more of an open web.  Patch wants to know: Do you support activists, such as Swartz and Assange, pushing to make information freely available on the web?  Both Swartz and Assange have landed in trouble with the government …

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beauregard

3:57 pm on Saturday, January 19, 2013

ITA. Assanges material public information which is legally due to u.s. citizens thru FOIA. Nobody is entitled to free merchandise (which REALLY) is what was snagged by. The kid.   more ›

Internet Activist Aaron Swartz's Teachers Remember 'Brilliant' Student

The Internet pioneer passed away this weekend in an apparent suicide. He was a student at North Shore Country Day School and grew up in Highland Park. His funeral is set for Tuesday morning.

Teachers and administrators at North Shore Country Day School in Winnetka remember former student Aaron Swartz as extremely intelligent and curious. Swartz, an Internet activist, co-creator of social news website Reddit and founder of Demand Progress, was found dead in an apparent suicide on Friday in his apartment in Brooklyn. He was 26. Swartz grew up in Highland Park and attended North Shore Country Day School through 9th grade. “He was a very creative boy and a very clever and bright child,” said Pam Whalley, head of lower school. “He was always engaged in school work. He loved … the creative opportunities he had here.” Whalley also noted that Swartz demonstrated the ability to tackle complex problems at a young age.  “He was always …

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