RSS Rich Site Summary (originally RDF Site Summary, often dubbed Really Simple Syndication) is a family of web feed formats used to publish frequently updated works—such as blog entries, news headlines, audio, and video—in a standardized format.[2] An RSS document (which is called a "feed", "web feed",[3] or "channel") includes full or summarized text, plus metadata such as publishing dates and authorship.

RSS feeds benefit publishers by letting them syndicate content automatically. A standardized XML file format allows the information to be published once and viewed by many different programs. They benefit readers who want to subscribe to timely updates from favorite websites or to aggregate feeds from many sites into one place.

RSS feeds can be read using software called an "RSS reader", "feed reader", or "aggregator", which can be web-based, desktop-based, or mobile-device-based. The user subscribes to a feed by entering into the reader the feed's URI or by clicking a feed icon in a web browser that initiates the subscription process. The RSS reader checks the user's subscribed feeds regularly for new work, downloads any updates that it finds, and provides a user interface to monitor and read the feeds. RSS allows users to avoid manually inspecting all of the websites they are interested in, and instead subscribe to websites such that all new content is automatically checked for and advertised by their browsers as soon as it is available.

RSS规格合作者、Reddit联合创始人、著名计算机黑客Aaron Swartz于1月11日在纽约市自杀，享年26岁。Swartz在14岁时合作编写了RSS 1.0规格，是社交新闻网站Reddit的三位创始人之一，在Reddit出售给Condé Nast后不久他卖掉了自己的股份。

2010年创建了反对审查互联网的DemandProgress.org。2011年7月19日，他因数字偷窃而被捕，被控从在线学术期刊系统JSTOR下载了480万篇学术论文。

Swartz利用外置硬盘通过物理接触的方式从MIT内网运行脚本下载JSTOR论文。JSTOR表示它无意起诉Swartz，对Swartz的起诉是美国政府的决定由美国联邦检察官坚持提出。2012年9月24日，Swartz出席法庭听证会但拒绝认罪。