At the risk of antagonizing an upset crowd - to me, no, he wasn't.
A hero is someone admired for courage and/or other noble qualities.
It's also a word greatly overused in culture today.
Swartz was accomplished, certainly. Though to me "co-founded the website reddit.com, co-wrote one of many specifications for syndicating content and repeatedly hacked and trespassed to download content to which he was not authorized" does not a hero make.
I agree with GP, even after having read that. It is okay for people to have different definitions of "hero", without one of them having to be a fool.
In a way it hits home even more, because it shows how any poor sap not unlike myself can be steamrolled by the justice system. I've probably done "worse", or at least comparable things.
Weev is about to go to jail for something equally preposterous.
I think it's the height of arrogance to tell someone they are a fool for having a different perspective of heroism from yours.
I read that article and see some very worthwhile beliefs and endeavors, though beyond contributions to fighting SOPA, I'm not sure what I didn't "know about".
So yes, I'll stand by my belief that I don't see anything particularly 'heroic' there. Which isn't to say he didn't make many valuable contributions to things.
All right, you're being a bit pompous. You imply that someone is ignoble for technically breaking a law. In the same way would you condemn Rosa Parks? Even if you don't agree with the cause, to dismiss so rashly is a bit childish and pedantic. You could say he was naive but to say someone that had no profit driven motive and only sought to make information free for the people that actually paid for that information, tax payers, is somehow of low character is just kind of ridiculous.
A hero is someone admired for courage and/or other noble qualities.
It's also a word greatly overused in culture today.
Swartz was accomplished, certainly. Though to me "co-founded the website reddit.com, co-wrote one of many specifications for syndicating content and repeatedly hacked and trespassed to download content to which he was not authorized" does not a hero make.