remembering losing #aaronsw twelve years ago today, and drawing connections with: * Lawrence Lessig’s https://lessig.tumblr.com/post/56888930628/on-the-emptiness-in-the-concept-of-neutrality * Ben Werdmüller’s https://werd.io/2025/building-an-open-web-that-protects-us-from-harm Two points of connection: 1. Neutrality in ethical or policy matters is insufficient, empty, and cowardly. Especially when you know better, neutrality in action is not ethical, it is negligent and wrong, like a lie of omission. “Allyship demands more than neutrality — it demands action.” — @werd.io (@ben@werd.social) “… there are obviously plenty of contexts in which to be ‘neutral’ is simply to be wrong. ” @lessig.org (@lessig.tumblr.com @lessig@mastodon.world @lessig) 2. Building community for collective action is required for resilient resistance Aaron helped inspire and drive numerous acts of resistance against foes better funded and connected, many acts which succeeded to some degree or completely such as preventing the passage of SOPA.^1 Similarly he built community for collective action, such as co-founding the Progressive Change Campaign Committee and the Demand Progress political advocacy group^2 which remain active to this day. One of the best ways to honor Aaron’s memory is to build on the good examples he set that succeeded and continue to succeed. The only neutrality that Aaron supported was net neutrality, prioritizing those that use the internet over those that build & serve it, a priority of constituencies strongly aligned with the W3C’s official Ethical Web Principles.^3 If you too reject neutrality and instead embrace allyship & action, some of those actions will require resisting the status quo with the intent of changing it. If resistance with the goal of actual change is your primary objective (rather than recognition), build community to bring about that change, resist collectively not alone, both in the near term, and sustainably into the future. Still miss you Aaron. Previously: * https://tantek.com/2024/013/t1/remembering-aaronsw-eleven-years (links to prior posts) ^1 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aaron_Swartz#Opposition_to_the_Stop_Online_Piracy_Act_(SOPA) ^2 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aaron_Swartz#Progressive_Change_Campaign_Committee ^3 https://www.w3.org/TR/ethical-web-principles/#noharm

remembering losing #aaronsw twelve years ago today, and drawing connections with:

* Lawrence Lessig’s https://lessig.tumblr.com/post/56888930628/on-the-emptiness-in-the-concept-of-neutrality
* Ben Werdmüller’s https://werd.io/2025/building-an-open-web-that-protects-us-from-harm

Two points of connection:

1. Neutrality in ethical or policy matters is insufficient, empty, and cowardly. Especially when you know better, neutrality in action is not ethical, it is negligent and wrong, like a lie of omission.

“Allyship demands more than neutrality — it demands action.” — @werd.io (@ben@werd.social)

“… there are obviously plenty of contexts in which to be ‘neutral’ is simply to be wrong. ” @lessig.org (@lessig.tumblr.com @lessig@mastodon.world @lessig)

2. Building community for collective action is required for resilient resistance

Aaron helped inspire and drive numerous acts of resistance against foes better funded and connected, many acts which succeeded to some degree or completely such as preventing the passage of SOPA.¹

Similarly he built community for collective action, such as co-founding the Progressive Change Campaign Committee and the Demand Progress political advocacy group² which remain active to this day.

One of the best ways to honor Aaron’s memory is to build on the good examples he set that succeeded and continue to succeed.

The only neutrality that Aaron supported was net neutrality, prioritizing those that use the internet over those that build & serve it, a priority of constituencies strongly aligned with the W3C’s official Ethical Web Principles.³

If you too reject neutrality and instead embrace allyship & action, some of those actions will require resisting the status quo with the intent of changing it.

If resistance with the goal of actual change is your primary objective (rather than recognition), build community to bring about that change, resist collectively not alone, both in the near term, and sustainably into the future.

Still miss you Aaron.

Previously:
* https://tantek.com/2024/013/t1/remembering-aaronsw-eleven-years (links to prior posts)

¹ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aaron_Swartz#Opposition_to_the_Stop_Online_Piracy_Act_(SOPA)
² https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aaron_Swartz#Progressive_Change_Campaign_Committee
³ https://www.w3.org/TR/ethical-web-principles/#noharm