Jim Larkin, Backpage Exec, Dies By Suicide A Week Before His Trial

<https://www.techdirt.com/2023/08/02/jim-larkin-backpage-exec-dies-by-suicide-a-week-before-his-trial/>

"Some unfortunate news. AZ Central reported yesterday that James Larkin, who
was a free speech pioneer who built an alt-weekly newspaper empire, and then
spun out the controversial classifieds ads site Backpage, died by suicide, one
week before his latest trial.

While there’s been plenty of discussion about Backpage, related to questions
around Section 230, sex trafficking, and a variety of other things, much of the
public perception about it is completely misleading. The actual details suggest
that the media, prosecutors, and some politicians basically concocted an
astoundingly misleading narrative about Larkin (and his partner Michael Lacey)
and what they did at Backpage.

Larkin, going back to his days running the alt weekly New Times (which
eventually took over the famed Village Voice) always believed in fighting
strongly for his free speech rights, including getting arrested a decade and a
half ago for going public about a bullshit subpoena they had received from
then-sheriff Joe Arpaio."

Another Aaron Swartz. The US “Department of Justice” should be ashamed.

Cheers,
       *** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net               Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/                 Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/            Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/               Manager, Serious Cybernetics