• Amputret@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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    1 year ago

    I wouldn’t say Reddit always has been owned by a malicious entity, Aaron Swartz was a cool guy. And if you’re telling me a man who freely distributed thousands of needlessly paywalled research papers is a some kind of arch capitalist, then there’s no helping you.

    • fox [comrade/them]@hexbear.net
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      1 year ago

      Swartz had good beliefs about freedom of information but politically was kind of a weirdo. What happened to him is an unlimited tragedy and outright criminal.

    • antonim@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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      1 year ago

      Swartz co-owned reddit for around 1 year, 2006-2007. His influence has overall probably been insignificant.

      • Amputret@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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        1 year ago

        True true, I just specifically took issue with it always having been run by bastards. (I know it’s a meme template, but I just wanted to point to evidence that there is hope that not everything we use has always been yoked with pure greed. Call it a cope, IDC.)

    • kingthrillgore@lemmy.ml
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      1 year ago

      Honestly as a capitalist (I know, blasphemy) Aaron did the world a favor when he dropped those papers. Elsevier Wiley IEEE et al have a cartel and so many of them are NIH or DOD funded papers they should be public domain period.

      The premise of our system depends on controls to avoid instilled entries extorting capital. Capitalism isn’t: it’s feudalism with extra steps