Established 1881 WEATHER, p. 2 MIT’s Oldest and WED: 38°F | 31°F Largest Newspaper Snow and rain THU: 42°F | 19°F Partly cloudy tech.mit.edu FRI: 31°F | 24°F Mostly cloudy Established 1881 Volume 132, Number 62 Wednesday, January 16, 2013 Aaron Swartz found dead Friday Internet legend faced copyright- related legal issues beforeEstablished death 1881 By Anne Cai and Deborah Chen NEWS EDITORS Internet activist Aaron H. Swartz died by suicide in his Brooklyn apartment on Friday, Jan. 11, according to his uncle, Michael Wolf, in a comment to The Tech. Swartz was 26. “The tragic and heartbreaking information you received is, regret- tably, true,” confirmed Swartz’ attorney, Elliot R. Peters of Kecker and Van Nest, in an email to The Tech early Saturday morning. Swartz was indicted in July 2011 by a federal grand jury for alleg- edly downloading millions of documents from JSTOR through the MIT network — using a laptop hidden in a basement network closet in MIT’s Building 16 — with the intent to distribute them. (Both JS- TOR and MIT had decided to drop the charges, but the U.S. Attorney’s Office decided to pursue the case.) Swartz subsequently moved to Brooklyn, NewEstablished York, where he then 1881 worked for Avaaz Foundation, a nonprofit “global web movement to bring people-powered politics to decision-making everywhere.” He appeared in court on Sept. 24, 2012 and pleaded not guilty. The case — with a trial then scheduled for April 1, 2013 — has SAGE ROSS—FlICKR Swartz, Page 8 Aaron Swartz at a Boston Wiki Meetup, photographed in 2009. Head of IS&T to step down Feb. 1, MIT network experiences unrelated to Swartz events, says Smith Marilyn T. Smith, head of MIT Executive vice president and trea- attack following Swartz’ death Information Services and Technol- surer Israel G. M. Ruiz ’01 praised ogy (IS&T), announced in an email to Smith for strengthening “information Hacking activists Anonymous claim responsibility IS&T staff on Monday afternoon that governanceEstablished structure” and promot1881- she will step down on Feb. 1. “I want ing “a culture of collaboration and By Joanna Kao and Ethan A. Solomon the outage was due to a denial-of-service attack to let you know that after much re- service” in a follow-up email to IS&T EDITORS (DoS). flection in recent weeks, I’ve decided staff. Between roughly 7 p.m. and 9:50 p.m. Sun- to leave my position at MIT,” Smith MIT has not yet decided on a re- MIT’s network fell to a denial-of-service attack day evening, users of MIT’s network lost access wrote. placement for Smith. Ruiz encour- Sunday evening, allegedly by the Internet activ- to most websites, and MIT’s own web properties “My stepping down was a deci- aged staff to send suggestions for po- ist group Anonymous, cutting campus users off — like the mit.edu homepage — were inaccessi- sion I arrived at well before the tragic tential candidates. from Internet access to most websites for nearly ble on the Web at large. Homepages on two MIT death of Aaron Swartz. My depar- Smith joined MIT as head of IS&T three hours. The attack came in the wake of ac- subdomains, cogen.mit.edu and rledev.mit.edu, ture is in no way connected to those in Sept. 2009. Before coming to MIT, cusations that MIT’s role in the pending litigation were rewritten as a message from Anonymous events,” Smith said in an email to The Smith was the president of Hanover against Internet activist Aaron Swartz contributed about the Swartz case. Tech. Insurance Group, and prior to joining to his Friday suicide. On Monday afternoon, MIT In her email to IS&T staff, Smith the Group, she was vice president and spokeswoman Kimberly C. Allen confirmed that Anonymous, Page 9 thanked her colleagues for their con- chief information officer at Liberty tributions, engagement, support, and Mutual’s Life and Group Division. friendship. —Joanna Kao IN Short Participate in a discussion on Aaron Swartz with report- ers from The Tech on Monday, Manic Sages prepare 2013 Jan. 21 at 7 p.m. EST. The Tech will livestream the panel on You- tube (http://bit.ly/swartzpanel). You can send us questions dur- MIT Mystery Hunt puzzles ing or prior to the discussion by tweeting @thetech (hashtag #SwartzPanel), commenting on Last year’s Hunt winners design current challenge the Youtube video, or emailing By Janelle Mansfield ion cube, and a futuristic piece of space [email protected]. ASSOCIATE NEWS EDITOR machinery have made appearances in previous years. The winning team’s prize The MIT Mystery Hunt com- For many students, IAP brings coding is to design the next year’s hunt. mences Friday at noon. The challenges, externships, intense UROP- The 2013 Mystery Hunt is the brain- kickoff of the annual event takes ing, and loafing around Boston. For child of last year’s winners, the Manic place in Rockwell Cage. puzzle-lovers and code-crackers, how- Sages. The winning team’s responsibili- ever, IAP means the return of the annual ties include choosing a theme for the Register for the Institute Di- MIT Mystery Hunt, an epic weekend of Hunt, planning the individual puzzles versity Summit. The discussion puzzle-solving that draws hundreds of and clues, and connecting the various takes place from 8 a.m. to 4:30 participants from around the world and puzzles together with meta-puzzles. p.m. on Wednesday, Jan. 30. Reg- begins this Friday at noon. When planning the Hunt, “some ister at http://diversity.mit.edu/ Every year since 1981, an intricate set teams try to outdo the previous teams,” HO YIN AU summit. of clues is hidden in a series of puzzles. says Jacob Hurwitz ’14, the Associate Lo- The scaffolding inside Barker Library’s Reading The clues ultimately lead teams to the gistics Director for the Sages. Room is being dismantled, which will reveal Bark- Send news information and tips location of a final prize — traditionally er’s newly installed skylight. to [email protected]. a coin, although a Tony Award, compan- Mystery Hunt, Page 10 What shouLD chaMPions of inteGration tiMELine: MITSFS and its SECTIONS World & Nation . .2 Students challenge each other in annual MIT DO? usa V. swartZ 40K Books Opinion . .4 Integration Bee. NEWS, p. 9 The world is waiting for Follow Swartz’ case with Reorganizing the entire Fun Pages . .5 MIT’s reaction to Aaron THE GOLden GLOBes! our interactive timeline. MITSFS library in one Arts . .7 Swartz. INTERACTIVE, http://bit. weekend. Sports . .12 EDITORIAL, p. 4 Dresses! Jokes! Cold-eyes! Action! ly/swartztimeline. PHOTO, p. 6 ARTS, p. 7 2 The Tech Wednesday, January 16, 2013 German economy shrank in D fourth quarter Mali Islamists dig in for a FRANKFURT, Germany — The economic stagnation in Eu- rope has taken a significant toll on Germany, with government figures released Tuesday showing that the Continent’s flagship long military struggle economy contracted in the fourth quarter of last year. The Federal Statistical Office in Wiesbaden estimated that By Adam Nossiter ranks with children as young as 12 stops, they’ll come back.” WORL the German economy shrank about 0.5 percent in the final three and Eric Schmitt years old. Since the French started months of 2012, compared with the previous three months. The THE NEW YORK TIMES Containing their southern ad- bombing, he said, “the situa- N decline was largely the result of sagging investment by German vance toward Bamako, the capital, tion has changed slightly but not managers worried about the future of the eurozone. BAMAKO, Mali — In the face of is proving more challenging than fundamentally.” And despite reassurances from economists that growth fierce, all-night bombardment by anticipated, French military offi- Other analysts said that while would bounce back quickly in Germany, the data underlined the French military, Mali’s Islamist cials acknowledged Tuesday. And forcing the insurgents from the how closely the country’s fate remained tied to its ailing euro- insurgents have hunkered down to with the Malian Army in disarray cities was achievable, eliminat- zone allies. fight again. and no outside African force yet as- ing them altogether would require Despite the contraction in the fourth quarter, a compilation Barging into some of the mud- sembled, displacing the rebels from considerable additional effort. “You ATIO of annual economic data by the statistical office showed that brick houses in the battle zone and the country altogether appears to can’t launch a war of extermination the German economy was in fundamentally good shape. Ex- ejecting residents, they have sought be an elusive, long-term challenge. against a very tenacious and mobile ports rose 4.1 percent during the year, and 41.6 million people to implant themselves in the local The jihadists are “dug in” at Dia- adversary,” said Col. Michel Goya of were working — a new high and the sixth annual increase in a population and add to the huge baly, Defense Minister Jean-Yves Le the French Military Academy’s Stra- row. challenges facing the French mili- Drian of France said Tuesday at a tegic Research Institute. “We are —Jack Ewing and Nicholas Kulish, The New York Times tary campaign to loosen their grip news conference. From that strate- in a classic counterinsurrectionary on Mali. gic town, they “threaten the south,” situation. They are well armed, but FDA expresses concern to St. “They are in the town, almost ev- he said, adding: “We face a well- the weapons are not sophisticated. & N erywhere in the town,” said Bekaye armed and determined adversary.” A couple of thousand men, very Jude over heart device Diarra, who owns the pharmacy in Le Drian also acknowledged that mobile.” Diabaly, which experienced French the Malian Army had not managed And they have been preparing The Food and Drug Administration has released a sharply bombing well into the morning to retake the town of Konna, whose for battle for months.