An Honest Thief

Five years ago, Aaron Swartz was caught illegally downloading millions of academic articles from nonprofit online database JSTOR, and was later indicted by the government for the theft. Swartz subsequently took his own life. Peters details how Swartz fought for the free exchange of information, and lost.

Published: Jan 26, 2016
Length: 20 minutes (5,071 words)

The Idealist

Jeff Smith was a rising political star. Then the FBI started asking questions about his past. “That evening, Smith gave a speech at a fund-raiser in a downtown loft. He found it difficult to focus. ‘As I was talking, I had an ominous sense of foreboding about what was to come,’ he says. ‘I looked around the crowd and thought to myself, “This is going to be our last fund-raiser.”‘”

Source: Slate
Published: Jan 14, 2011
Length: 24 minutes (6,150 words)