The Anonymous hacktivist group appears to have hacked MIT's website, leaving a tribute for Aaron Swartz, the online activist who recently committed suicide.
Swartz was a the co-founder of Demand Progress and founder of Infogami, a service later merged with Reddit. He committed suicide in New York City on Jan. 11.
MIT's website was defaced with a message claiming the prosecution of Swartz, who was arrested in 2011 for allegedly harvesting academic papers from the JSTOR online journal archive, was a "a grotesque miscarriage of justice".
"The situation Aaron found himself in highlights the injustice of U.S. computer crime laws, particularly their punishment regimes, and the highly-questionable justice of pre-trial bargaining. Aaron’s act was undoubtedly political activism; it had tragic consequences," says the message.
In the message, the Anonymous also lists several "wishes," including a reform of computer crime laws as well as copyright and intellectual property law.
"We call for this tragedy to be a basis for reform of computer crime laws, and the overzealous prosecutors who use them.
We call for this tragedy to be a basis for reform of copyright and intellectual property law, returning it to the proper principles of common good to the many, rather than private gain to the few.
We call for this tragedy to be a basis for greater recognition of the oppression and injustices heaped daily by certain persons and institutions of authority upon anyone who dares to stand up and be counted for their beliefs, and for greater solidarity and mutual aid in response.
We call for this tragedy to be a basis for a renewed and unwavering commitment to a free and unfettered internet, spared from censorship with equality of access and franchise for all."
The defacement of MIT's website comes hours after the institution announced it will be conducting an investigation of its involvement in the case of Aaron Swartz.
Image credit: Flickr, peretzp
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