Aaron Swartz, the 26-year-old co-founder of Reddit and internet activist, committed suicide yesterday according to MIT's The Tech.
The news of Swartz’s untimely death was confirmed to MIT's The Tech by both his uncle and his lawyer Saturday morning.
Swartz was behind some of the Internet's iconic moments like the fight against SOPA. At the same time, was plagued with legal problems arising from its aggressive activism, and he was also known to suffer depression, a personal matter that he publicly revealed on his blog.
Swartz was arrested in 2011 for allegedly downloading academic journals with the intent to distribute them. He pleaded not guilty in September,ZDnet reported.
On Saturday, Swartz's mother has posted a statement on the site YCombinator:
'Thank you all for your kind words and thoughts. Aaron has been depressed about his case/upcoming trial, but we had no idea what he was going through was this painful. 'Aaron was a terrific young man. He contributed a lot to the world in his short life and I regret the loss of all the things he had yet to accomplish. As you can imagine, we all miss him dearly. The grief is unfathomable.
Below, video of Swartz' keynote address at Freedom to Connect 2012 in Washington
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