From the New Republic’s cover story on Aaron Swartz:
Other hackers have killed themselves, too. Before there was Aaron Swartz, there was Ilya Zhitomirskiy, a 22-year-old founder of the social-network site Diaspora*, frequently described as the “anti-Facebook” because it gives users control over their personal data rather than packaging it for advertisers. Before Ilya, there was Len Sassaman, a brilliant cryptographer who helped make Internet communications anonymous, especially when governments or powerful corporations might want to nose in on them. Before Sassaman, there was Christopher Lightfoot, who was revered for his daring, Swartz-style bulk downloads of British government data. And before Lightfoot, there was Gene Kan, who made a name for himself in the peer-to-peer movement—the technology used to swap music and video files outside the reach of their copyright holders.
The particulars of each case were different, of course. Like Swartz, Sassaman had the occasional run-in with the government over his online exploits. Kan seemed to briefly make his peace with the powers-that-be by going to work for Sun Microsystems, the Silicon Valley giant. And, in any case, who can really say why anyone might take that tragic, irreversible step? But all in their own way came across as highly concentrated distillations of computer hacker culture: precocious, technically brilliant, bracingly idealistic. All were prone to disillusionment when reality fell short of their vision for it.
The piece ends on a tough question — whether we should put such child prodigies on a pedestal. “We want people doing this work, of course—in many cases, we need them doing it,” Noam Scheiber writes. “It’s just far from clear that we want them doing it before they can drive a car or buy a beer. In Aaron Swartz’s case, too many adults refused to see that a child isn’t a messiah or even a leader of men, however brilliant he may be. A child is just a child.” Thoughts? Agree/disagree?
Remember Stephen Glass? The man at the center of a major Clinton-era journalistic scandal at The New Republic (shown above in film trailer form) is looking to make a comeback — as a lawyer. Glass, now 39, has poured tons of money into the effort, and has worked hard to rehabilitate himself and his image, even going through therapy. And his boss, trial lawyer Paul Zuckerman, is one of the strongest advocates for his push to get a California law license, giving him a second chance after reflecting on his own earlier substance abuse. ”People can say he is fooling me,” Zuckerman said. “But I truly know the man.”
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This is really cool. Very slick summaries, akin to Romenesko when he was still at Poynter.
How did Jeffrey Toobin keep up the “train wreck” echo chamber?
“There are two ways to explain the early onset of liberal panic over last week’s health care hearings at the Supreme Court. In the first, Solicitor General Don Verrilli turned in an unexpectedly weak performance during last Tuesday’s oral arguments, flubbing tough questions from the court’s skeptical swing votes. In the second, New Yorker writer and CNN legal correspondent Jeffrey Toobin got on television and scared the hell out of all of us.”
- Simon van Zuylen-Wood, Jeffrey Toobin’s Big Week
Photo courtesy of The Charlie Rose Show
An interesting example of how one line can greatly influence the overall discussion. It’s of note that Toobin’s analysis is a bit more tempered in this New Yorker article.
It seems that today too many media institutions chase superficial metrics of online virality at the expense of investing in rigorous reporting and analysis of the most important stories of our time. When few people are investing in media institutions with such bold aims as ‘enlightenment to the problems of the nation,’ I believe we must.Just-announced New Republic majority owner Chris Hughes • Discussing his plans for the small-but-influential magazine, which are somewhat ironic because he’s the co-founder of Facebook. Huge props to him, though. We need someone fighting for serious, well-considered insight even as the world is moving closer and closer to sharing as little as possible.
Twenty-two years ago, Andrew Sullivan wrote the cover story for The New Republic, arguing for gay marriage. TNR is reprinting the original story, “Here Comes the Groom: A Conservative Case for Gay Marriage,” published in August of 1989. Sullivan takes an interesting approach (a socially conservative one) to arguing for gay marriage. Many who agree with his conclusions would probably disagree with how he got there. It’s definitely, however, this morning’s read.
…gay marriage could both avoid a lot of tortured families and create the possibility for many happier ones. It is not, in short a denial of family values. It is an extension of them.
Great idea. Great way to celebrate a major victory in this fight. Andy was totally ahead of the curve on this issue — by a couple of decades, as it turns out.
On Friday, hundreds of tribesmen armed with anti-aircraft mortars, rockets, machine guns, and grenades launched a prolonged attack on the presidential palace in the Yemeni capital of Sana’a, wounding Ali Abdullah Saleh, Yemen’s president of thirty-three years. It’s a fitting cap on what has…
Reblogged for both the headline and the solid context the article offers.
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