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From the beginning, the government worked as hard as it could to characterize what Aaron did in the most extreme and absurd way. The “property” Aaron had “stolen,” we were told, was worth “millions of dollars” — with the hint, and then the suggestion, that his aim must have been to profit from his crime. But anyone who says that there is money to be made in a stash of ACADEMIC ARTICLES is either an idiot or a liar. It was clear what this was not, yet our government continued to push as if it had caught the 9/11 terrorists red-handed.

— Lawrence Lessig

What It Means

This is a placeholder explanation generated by the low-overhead model. It interprets "From the beginning, the government worked as hard as it could to characterize what Aaron did in the most extreme and absurd way. The “property” Aaron had “stolen,” we were told, was worth “millions of dollars” — with the hint, and then the suggestion, that his aim must have been to profit from his crime. But anyone who says that there is money to be made in a stash of ACADEMIC ARTICLES is either an idiot or a liar. It was clear what this was not, yet our government continued to push as if it had caught the 9/11 terrorists red-handed." in the context of "Lawrence Lessig, in "Prosecutor as bully" at Lessig Blog, v2 (12 January 2013)." to mean that wisdom is timeless.

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Source: Wikiquote: "Aaron Swartz" (Quotes about Swartz: Alphabetized by authors ) The 'What it means' explanation text was generated by Google Gemini Flash (accessed January 18, 2026). https://gemini.google.com/app
Aaron Swartz

About Aaron Swartz

Aaron H. Swartz (8 November 1986 – 11 January 2013) was an American computer programmer, writer, political organizer and Internet activist.