"There’s a battle going on right now, a battle to define everything that happens on the Internet in terms of traditional things that the law understands. Is sharing a video on BitTorrent like shoplifting from a movie store? Or is it like loaning a videotape to a friend? Is reloading a webpage over and over again like a peaceful virtual sit-in or a violent smashing of shop windows? Is the freedom to connect like freedom of speech or like the freedom to murder? This bill would be a huge, potentially permanent, loss. If we lost the ability to communicate with each other over the Internet, it would be a change to the Bill of Rights. The freedoms guaranteed in our Constitution, the freedoms our country had been built on, would be suddenly deleted. New technology, instead of bringing us greater freedom, would have snuffed out fundamental rights we had always taken for granted."
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Businesspeople from the United StatesJews from the United StatesComputer scientists from the United StatesProgrammers from the United StatesInternet activists
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Aaron Swartz
Aaron H. Swartz (8 November 1986 – 11 January 2013) was an American computer programmer, writer, political organizer and Internet activist.
23 quotes on TrueQuotesView all quotes by Aaron Swartz →
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