NEW YORK (AP) — Hundreds of friends and supporters of Aaron Swartz gathered Saturday in New York City to pay tribute to the free-information activist and online prodigy who killed himself last week as he faced trial on hacking charges.

A hero to data-access advocates but a thief in the eyes of prosecutors, Swartz, 26, was found dead Jan. 11 in a suicide that has intensified debate over how authorities should treat hackers whose goal is to expand public knowledge, not make personal profits.