online information he also formed a company that later merged with reddit he also co-founded demand progress a group that fights efforts to restrict internet freedoms and also promote social justice issues these were causes near and dear to his heart and many times he appeared on this network to lay out in detail the ways in which it was like the patriot act as well as propose internet laws like sopa and pipa actually violated the constitution party had a chance to speak with aaron over the years his message always resilient always promoting a free and open internet the world is fundamental to our constitutional order that the government doesn't get to just spy and knew that they need at least independent improvement they need to go to a nonpartisan independent judge and get permission right i mean it's it's common sense and it's the foundation of the constitution's the government is constrained by having someone else check off to make sure they're not abusing their powers july fourth is a good time to remember what this country was founded that wasn't founded on here was unfounded on terror

let me bring in david segal executive director of demand progress, where they worked with aaron.nks for joining us. >> thanks for having me. glad to see you even if the circumstances are pretty terrible he. >> cenk: no question about that. well first tell us about what role aaron played in demand progress. >> he started the organization, i came onboard quickly thereafter, in the fall of 2010, and sort of right out of the box, we put forth a petition in opposition to the bill that eventually became sopa. it took off. we had a wonderful membership that cared about freedom issues and defined the course for the next couple of years. >> does anyone believe this is actually a terms of service breach, that this is the reason why, you know, federal officials went after him or is this more about the fact that he was an internet activist? >> it's hard for me to speak to. i think that he would love to think sometimes anyway, that he was subversive enough that people wanted to come after him. i don't think that was actually the case. i think that he knows that that wasn't actually the case.

i call all my friends and we stand up all night setting up a website for this new group demand progressrom an online petition opposing this obnoxious bill. i sent it to a few friends. now, i have done a few online petitions before. i worked with some of the biggest groups in the world that online petitions, that i have never seen anything like this. starting from literally nothing, we went to 10,000, than 100,000 signers and 300,000 in just a couple weeks. it was not just finding a name. we asked people to call congress. there was a vote coming up in a couple of days and we had to stop it. at the same time tell the press about this incredible online petition that was taking off. we plead with members of congress to withdraw their support. the power of the internet rose up in force against this bill, and then it passed unanimously. to be fair, several members gave nice speeches before casting their vote. they said their office had been overwhelmed with comments about first amendment concerns behind this bill, comments that have been very worried. so worried there were not sure they still

he helped write the aura says a program that alerts users to new blog posts warts also founded demand progress in internet group that campaigns against web censorship in this. ultimately led to many people considering him something of an on line robinhood but his supporters his friends his his family members believe that it was him being targeted by the federal government that caused this brilliant twenty six year old to take his own life reporting from new york marina port ny on r.t. . so triggered an avalanche of tributes online from a leading internet and like minded activist and a german and p. from the pirate party five reinhard believes the potential punishment swartz was facing his activity was way too much it is completely ridiculous people are being charged with your thousand dollars fines for just on loading some music from the internet or. files on the internet that should have been on the internet. a long time ago and actually j. store. the where the parts came from. on the internet anyway it was just the did a good job doing it the system of the obvious case whenever it comes to f

he helped write the ora says program that alerts users to new blog posts swartz also founded demand progress an internet group that campaigns against web censorship in this. ultimately led to many people considering him something of an on line robinhood one of our producers reached out to him in early january for an interview he declined in an e-mail saying that he was under the weather for many years also did write openly about his ongoing battle with depression and at least one time wrote about the topic of death but his supporters his friends his family members believe that it was him being targeted by the federal government that caused this brilliant twenty six year old to take his own life reporting from new york. r.t. . so. it's triggered an avalanche of tributes online from leaving internet and like minded of its a german. believes the potential punishment facing his ex if he was way too harsh. it is completely ridiculous people are being charged with fifty thousand dollar fines for just are not into music on the internet or in swat was putting pirates on the internet that should have

he helped write the are a says program that alerts users to new blog posts warts also founded demand progress an internet group that campaigns against web censorship in this. ultimately led to many people considering him something of an on line robinhood one of our producers reached out to him in early january for an interview he declined in an e-mail saying that he was under the weather for many years also as did write openly about his ongoing battle with depression and at least one time wrote about the topic of death but his supporters his friends his family members believe that it was him being targeted by the federal government that caused this brilliant twenty six year old to take his own life reporting from new york. triggered a novel and show tributes on line from leading. a leading and like minded the german from the pirate reinhard believes they put on a punishment schwartz was facing for his activity was a way to. it is completely ridiculous people are being charged with fifty thousand dollars fines for just downloading some music from the internet was squatting on the internet that

he helped write the ora says program that alerts users to new blog posts swartz also founded demand progress an internet group that campaigns against web censorship in this. ultimately led to many people considering him something of an on line robin hood but his supporters his friends his family members believe that it was him being targeted by the federal government that caused this brilliant twenty six year old to take his own life reporting from new york. triggered an outpouring of support for his work and tributes to him came in from all corners of the web i want german m.p. from the pirate party fabio reinhardt he says the punishment short was facing was just simply too harsh. it is completely ridiculous people are being charged. for just are not into music from the internet. putting it on the internet that should have been on the internet. a long time ago and actually j.-star. the where the pirates came from said they wanted to put the parts on the internet anyway and. good job doing it this is from the uk this case whenever it comes to comes to copyright and. then. other people in the

he helped write the aura says a program that alerts users to new blog posts warts also founded demand progress in internet group that campaigns against web censorship and this ultimately led to many people considering him something of an on line robinhood but his supporters his friends his his. him being targeted by the federal government that caused this brilliant twenty six year old to take his own life reporting from new york marina port ny on our team. and mr schwartz his death triggered an outpouring of support for his work and tributes to him came in from all corners of the web a german m.p. from the pirate party fabby a wry and hard so as to punishment schwartz was facing was simply too harsh. it is completely ridiculous people are being charged with your thousand dollar fines for just are not into music from the internet. putting clients on the internet that should have been on the internet. a long time ago and actually j.-star. the where the pirates came from said they wanted to put the parts on the internet anyway and was just did a good job doing it the system approaching this case

he helped write the are a says program that alerts users to new blog posts warts also founded demand progress in internet group that campaigns against web censorship in this ultimately led to many people considering him something of an on line robinhood but his supporters his friends his his family member. believe that it was him being targeted by the federal government that caused this brilliant twenty six year old to take his own life reporting from new york marina port ny on r.t. . rick fox and i t entrepreneur and founder of the swedish pirate party says the majority of all information should be free to whoever wants it military secrets or medical journals should not be free to distribute because it violates privacy by those national security but in terms of access to knowledge access to public public documents and records from which certainly committed no crime and that even goes with the law or so war the federal prosecution did wasn't through the book at him in the way this had been obtained in terms of how he had walked into the technical university mit in the united states and set up

write the ora says program that he helped write the ora says program that alerts you founded demand progress an internet group that campaigns against web censorship and this ultimately led to many people considering him something of an on line robinhood but his supporters his friends his his family members believe that it was him being targeted by the federal government that caused this brilliant twenty six year old to take his own life reporting from new york marina port arcade. and triggered an avalanche of tributes online from leading internet and like minded activists one german m.p. from the pirate party that of a reinhard he believes the potential punishment schwartz was facing for his activity was far too harsh. it is completely ridiculous people are being charged with fifty thousand dollars fine but just are not into music from the internet or into art was putting fires on the internet that should have been on the internet. a long time ago and actually j.-star. where the fires came from and said they wanted to put the fire on the internet anyway and aaron swartz just did a good job d

age of twenty six took his own life swartz was co-founder of the online publication reddit and demand progress and was an influential figure in his own right a passionate activist and a web freedom fighter he rallied for an open and accessible internet a point his supporters have vowed that they'll continue to champion one of the most important to also creating more democratization is making things more transparent and so if we can make information more transparent it's obviously a success for everyone out there erin was facing allegations and indictment on thirteen counts including wire fraud and computer fraud psychologist and supporter dr jean backman who came to highland park to pay respect to aaron's family suggest that the behavior of federal prosecutors was nothing short of bullying if you look at the definition of terrorism it is to inspire terror. and this man a young man and his family were literally terrorized by the prosecutors and the judicial discretion that let this case go forward and not stop despite the cold weather activists and supporters arrived by the dozens agreeing that

and read it stood up and joined the vanguard in this movement he co-founded the organization demand progress which was instrumental in leading the largest online protest in the history of the internet against sopa and pipe. thanks to this effort on january eighteenth two thousand and twelve tens of thousands of websites blacked out and ultimately sopa and pipa were defeated by this online grassroots activism today that same internet is blacked out with remembrances and obituaries of aaron swartz who took his own life over the weekend and in each of these remember and says aaron is described as a spark that made things happen and for the rest of us who still believe is there and did in a free and open internet and a compassionate and just nation a message he often espoused as a guest on the show and we can only hope he provides the same sort of spark in death that he did in life he was never afraid to talk about the depression he battled most of his life often giving eloquent and deeply personal insight into how difficult it is to fight this disease ultimately aaron lost his battle with depre

he helped write the ora says a program that alerts users to new blog posts warts also founded demand progress an internet group that campaigns against web censorship and this ultimately led to many people considering him something of an on line robinhood but his supporters his friends his his family member. it's believed that it was him being targeted by the federal government that caused this brilliant twenty six year old to take his own life reporting from new york marina port niamh r.t. . the u.s. justice department has dropped the charges against aaron swartz the activists attorney has commented on that stating that the dismissal was too little too late well staying with the story i'm now joined by journalist and author of a stoner when his lawyer also said that the dismissal would have been welcome the same time last week well many would say this is a cynical gesture by the prosecution when they would you agree with that yes although it is a formality to after the person has died or anywhere in the search in the circumstance to actually announce that there is no longer a prosecution beca

helped write the are a says a program that alerts users to new blog posts warts also founded demand progress in internet group that campaigns against web censorship and this ultimately led to many people considering him something of an on line robinhood but his supporters his friends his his family members. i believe that it was him being targeted by the federal government that caused this brilliant twenty six year old to take his own life reporting from new york. r.t. . and in the aftermath of schwartz's death the massachusetts institute of technology website has been attacked and defaced hacktivist group anonymous has taken responsibility leaving a message in memory of him on the front page of mit has said it would investigate its role in the death of an m.p. from the pirate party reinhard says walsh was faced was just too harsh. it is completely ridiculous people are being charged with few thousand dollars just are not into music from the internet. putting it on the internet that should have been on the internet. a long time ago and actually j. store. where the parts came from said they w

helped write the are a says a program that alerts users to new blog posts warts also founded demand progress in internet group that campaigns against web censorship in this ultimately led to many people considering him something of an on line robinhood but his supporters his friends his his family member. believe that it was him being targeted by the federal government that cause this brilliant twenty six year old to take his own life reporting from new york marina port ny an article. will stay with this i'm now joined by rick he's an i.t. entrepreneur and founder of the swedish pirate party but he stole millions of documents none of which were free why is there such outrage that he faced a harsh sentence wasn't it justified because prosecutors claim it was a fair reading of the law what those documents to begin with were not of the under the cockroach monopoly of force of previously done this with court documents which are public documents but which were still charged for axis. when the federal agencies in the united states trial subscription to these public court documents which was smart

birthday is a day of service in action for people who want to you know really go out and start demanding progress legislative fixes for you know campaign finance issues as well as an effort to stop and push back a lot of the voter suppression tactics that we have seen lately it's really extraordinary juxtaposition you know the anniversary of citizens united and the birth date of the reverend martin luther king and and and the you know the second inauguration of america's first african-american president it really is alexis where do you see this going what are the early signs well i think the fact that an organization like mine is making this a priority it tells you a little bit about where we are as a movement i represent consumers who are interested in buying organic food wouldn't think that money in politics or corporate personhood would be very important to us but we've gone up against major corporations and electoral fights and we've been creamed through lives that were paid for with millions of dollars forty six million dollars with spent against us and our proposition thirty seven five in c

. >> just as we went to broadcast, the grass-roots organization demand progress which aaron swartz helpedound, launched a new campaign calling on congress to end prosecutorial abuses and to pass congress member so lofgren has built a mini computer fraud law. the group sent a letter to members reading -- or information on the campaign is that demandprogress.org. as we wrap up, taren, what this campaign will mean. i know there will be a memorial here in new york city on saturday at 4:00. where this campaign is headed? >> i think the best legacy that -- the best tribute we can pay to aaron's legacy is to fight to make this world a more just, fair play spread that is what he cared most about. i am going to keep doing that. we have yet to sort of look at all of the details of the law. i want to make sure it covers a sweeping amendment as possible, but, clearly, the computer act must be amended. i hope this can serve as a wake- up call for the broader issues in the criminal justice system. it is not just this one act. our system is deeply, deeply unfair. as i said earlier, millions of people su

feeds and company founder of demand progress, a civil liberties and internet freedom organization.ernment went after him like a ton of bricks for what they characterize as taking information he worked not have had, even though he had a contract to take that information with a company. m.i.t. got involved, because he had gone into their computers. he committed suicide because of the prosecution that the government brought. at his funeral his father had strong words including at m.i.t. >> i said why are you destroying my son. he said he wasn't. he was wrong. aaron did not commit suicide but was killed by the government and m.i.t. has betrayed all of its basic principles. >> cenk: strong words. it appears that the government was building an enormous case and aaron could have faced up to 35 years in jail for violating a term of service contract. that seems like overkill, right? well, now, some are wondering if there was something else behind it including a republican senator from texas who wrote a letter to the attorney general: >> cenk: why? because aaron apparently asked for freedom

demand progress. this is something that last year played a crucial role in defeating a piece of ledge lyings that would have added a censorship layer, a censorship regime to the internet. in the name of protecting copyrights. if i can... the first time i met aaron, it was right after reddit was acquired by wired's parent company. the whole reddit team moved into the corner of wired's office. aaron came up to me. i was an editor at wired. he asked me if he could write something about an obscure argument in a copyright appeals case challenging the 1976 law that restricted public domain material. something very few people even knew about. i said yes. he spent the day watching oral arguments in this courtroom and then filing 600, 700 words, very well written summarizing both sides of the case and what the issues were. this was right after his company was acquired for presumably a lot of money. that's how he chose to spend his time instead of going out and buying sports car. >> warner: tell us about the in

the family will be able to demand progress reports from pg&e and can initiation mediation talks if needed. the family also received an undisclosed payment. >>> the big announcement involving barry bonds expected at -- at 11:00 a.m. we're about to find out if baseball's all-time king has been voted into the hall of fame. ktvu's tara moriarty is live in san francisco right now with more on this really hot debate about the big vote. >> reporter: well, steroid use, alleged steroid use could it keep him out of the hall of fame? we spoke to sports radio and they seem to think he's out. they will decide the fate of -- barry bonds and other players. also under contribution mike piazza, coverage biggio and curt shill -- consideration, mike piazza yo, craig biggio and curt schilling. >> every generation is tainted from some way. whether it was segregation or in the '60s or '50s. there's program pant methamphetamine use which is illegal. so maybe you should view this as the tainting of the steroids and maybe we should let them in and let history tell the story down the road. >> reporter: bonds has d

and he founded demand progress, that led the fight against censorship bill. under federal indictment for downloading stories to which he had access. he was facing 13 felony charges carrying potential penalties of up to 35 years in prison and $1 million in fines. in the wake of his death, u.s. attorney for district of massachusetts ortiz, whose office prosecuted aaron, has come under fierce attack. last week she responded saying i must however make clear this office's conduct was appropriate in bringing and handling this case. in the discussions with his counsel about a resolution of the case, the office sought an appropriate sentence that matched the alleged conduct. at no time did this office ever seek or ever tell mr. swartz's attorneys it intended to seek maximum penalties under the law. many of aaron's peers feel he was not the target of federal government for downloading too many articles, some of which were free, he was a target because the state wanted to make an example of someone who powerful questioned authority. here's aaron explaining his activism

he worked with progressive change committee and founded demand progress to keep the internet open andt online pirate si act. he created the ice ensing system so many on the internet use. we were fellows for ethics. we would grab lunch, talk politics and ideas and he would talk about books he was planning on writing. he was a 20th century nerd renaissance man. he suffered from depression. he wrote of depression in a post titled "sick." perhaps you have been sad. your face falls, perhaps you cry. you wonder if it's worth going on. everything you think about seems bleak. the things you have done, the things you hope to do. the people around you. depressed mood is like that. it doesn't come for any reason or go either. go get fresh air, cuddle with a loved one. you don't feel better. upset of feeling the joy everyone else seems to feel. everything is colored by sadness. if you are depressed, you are not alone. there are millions of people suffering from depression and help is available. you should note the time of his death, he was being prosecuted by the federal government and $1 million

i hope we'll just demand it and as we continue to demand it, i think we'll make progress. >> my heart is heavy for your experience. i can't imagine that this will make you feel any better, nor is it my intent that you do because i wouldn't, quite frankly, belittle your grief with new laws that can't bring your son back. four years ago when what happened to you happened, we didn't have a federal government that ensured that lgbt youth were going to be protected by the nation's civil rights laws, and now we do. seth's mother, nothing we could do to bring seth walsh back. nothing we could do could ensure that her pain or the pain that he and his family and his community suffered through the many years that he was ridiculed and abused and beaten because he was a member of the lgbt community, could bring him back. but what we have in place there, what i want to believe with all that i am that we would have had in place at that school in sacramento if it happened now or any time in the last 3 year, 3 1/2 years, would have been not just an accountability document, but a promise made publicly