Famed Internet freedom activist Aaron Swartz dies at 26

PanARMENIAN.Net - Aaron Swartz, a celebrated internet freedom activist and early developer of the website Reddit, has died at 26, BBC News reported.

The activist and programmer took his life in his New York apartment, a relative and the state medical examiner said. His body was found on Friday, Jan 11.

Mr Swartz began computer programming as a child, and at 14 co-authored an early version of the RSS specification.

Leading internet figures and friends paid tribute to Mr Swartz via tweets or blogs.

After leaving Reddit, Mr Swartz became an advocate of internet freedom, and was facing hacking charges at the time of his death.

He was among the founders of the Demand Progress campaign group, which lobbies against internet censorship.

The hacking charges relate to the downloading of millions of academic papers from online archive JSTOR, which prosecutors say he intended to distribute for free.

He denied charges of computer fraud at an initial hearing last year, but his federal trial was due to begin next month.