MIT president Rafael Reif sent out a university-wide email yesterday announcing an investigation into the school’s involvement in the prosecution of Aaron Swartz. He’s appointed MIT professor Hal Abelson, a founding director of Creative Commons, who worked with Aaron, “to lead a thorough analysis of MIT’s involvement from the time that we first perceived unusual activity on our network in fall 2010 up to the present” and has pledged to “share the report with the MIT community when I receive it.”
Yesterday we received the shocking and terrible news that on Friday in New York, Aaron Swartz, a gifted young man well known and admired by many in the MIT community, took his own life. With this tragedy, his family and his friends suffered an inexpressible loss, and we offer our most profound condolences. Even for those of us who did not know Aaron, the trail of his brief life shines with his brilliant creativity and idealism.
Although Aaron had no formal affiliation with MIT, I am writing to you now because he was beloved by many members of our community and because MIT played a role in the legal struggles that began for him in 2011.
MIT president calls for “thorough analysis” of school’s involvement with Swartz