Death of an Internet activist
Last week was filled with much news both locally and internationally, that I had a hard time finding the point that tied these critical events together. Interestingly the thing that I found they had in common is that all of them had more detailed and expanded coverage on the Internet than in regular media.
The death of Internet activist Aaron Swartz has shocked the digital community around the world. This 26-year-old digital prodigy has helped develop social news, distributor programs such as the Reddit and RSS. He was one of the strongest advocates to the defeat Internet censorship and a constant believer of free access to knowledge.
It was through the work of Aaron Swartz that I was able to read about the great new accomplishment of 30 brave Saudi ladies who were finally appointed as members of the male dominated consultative body (Shoura Council); while at the same time reading about the frustrations of some Saudis on the limitations of the powers of the council and how they think that making it an elected one will increase its efficiency.
I was also able to follow the consecutive new changes in government appointments, where we saw two new governors for the Eastern Province and Madinah that are considered young to be governors of these two crucial provinces.
Royal Decrees also included restructuring prominent religious and judiciary positions.
What regular media couldn’t cover, was the feedback of a wide spectrum of people on these crucial changes, viewers on the Internet got to see it more in prospective with the views of supporters and opponents alike.
Even in sports, people knew that Dutchman Frank Rijkaard is being sacked as coach of Saudi Arabia through social media, even before the Saudi Football Federation has completed its meeting and announced the news officially, causing a lot of embarrassment to the newly appointed federation.
What Aaron Swartz succeeded in achieving during his short but productive years was a recreation of the Internet, not only with his framework coding or application contributions, but by helping to create and sustain the new philosophy of the Internet in liberating the access of information and keeping it free for all.
A Tweet: “All of us at MIT are extremely saddened by the death of this promising young man who touched the lives of so many. It pains me to think that MIT played any role in a series of events that have ended in tragedy.”
— MIT President L. Rafael Reif
@ msalsaif
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