This tragedy is another illustration of how capitalism turns everything into commodities for the rich to profit from.
The majority of the wealth of human knowledge is owned by a few publishing companies that hoard information and make billions off licensing fees, although most scholarly articles and journals are paid for by taxpayers through government grants. Aaron sought to change this.The script in this post is mostly repeated in Martin's video, but the video is better. So, if you are short of time, I recommend viewing the video and skipping the text.
Her commentary was inspired by the release of a full length film on Aaron Swartz posted at the end of the article. She explains the legacy of Aaron Swartz: his fight to have the internet serve people instead of profits.
Unfortunately, we lost a brave warrior whose valiant efforts were crushed by capitalist ruling class authorities whose only concern was to preserve their "ownership" of information. We, the living, must join the battle for which he fought or his short life's struggle will be in vain. (I was particularly moved by Swartz's comments beginning at 5:18m.)
