
Aaron Swartz Gets Indicted on More Charges in Connection with MIT Break In - alexwilliams
http://siliconangle.com/blog/2011/11/17/aaron-swartz-gets-indicted-on-more-charges-in-connection-with-mit-break-in/
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feralchimp
"He has apparently settled with JSTOR but not with U.S. prosecutors who
indicted Swartz on charges of wire fraud, computer fraud, and unlawfully
obtaining information from a protected computer."

Everyone theoretically "harmed" by his downloading of the material (all of
which was available for free through the MIT Guest wireless network, just at
lower speed) has put the incident behind them, but the feds believe their
mandate is to nail his ass to the wall.

That's not the Academy's fault, and every free person should be pissed about
it.

~~~
baddox
To be fair, isn't that how criminal law generally works? Once you report a
crime (or the authorities find out somehow), can't you still be prosecuted
even if the victims say it's "no big deal"?

~~~
danso
Yes, though in reality, it doesnt happen often because it is difficult to
build a case without the primary witness.

~~~
rufibarbatus
I may be misconstruing what you're saying (please correct me if I am), but I
don't see how MIT's and JSTOR's dismissing of the case makes them any less
"primary witness material", should the authorities decide to continue
prosecuting.

~~~
danso
No you construed correctly...I think it has to do with the nature of the
charges being pressed here. The feds can build a case in which there is
discrete factual evidence. Either the logs show Swartz's activity or they do
not. Either the computer closet was broken into or it was not. Either those
documents were on Swartz's computer or they were not.

None of those facts require MIT or JSTOR to testify. A charge related to a
denial-of-service, _would_ require the cooperation of a victim...I
_assume_...because if the "victim" isn't going to say that their network was
terribly inconvenienced, then it's a hard case to prosecute.

The feds may be pursuing this hard because even if JSTOR doesn't care, there
may be many people (i.e. the authors of the journal articles) who feel ripped
off.

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gnat
"My bet? Swartz is forcing the issue". My bet is that the Justice Department
is still pissed at him for his role in liberating PACER (see
<http://gnat.me/sJAdUm>). They'd been obstinately keeping judicial information
under paywall lock and key, and were grumpy when he helped release that
information (read the link for more). The FBI staked him out, and this set of
indictments (where MIT and JSTOR have both made their peace with Swartz) reeks
of vindictiveness. Anyone else, they'd have let it go by now.

~~~
SkyMarshal
I can't help but wonder if it also has something to do with
DemandProgress.org. Aaron's group is one of the more effective pro-privacy,
anti-wiretapping/snooping/etc. advocates around.

Efforts like this are particularly problematic for the massively growing US
security apparatus:

<http://act.demandprogress.org/letter/snooping_bill/>

~~~
jonhendry
So a guy who's anti-wiretapping and anti-snooping snuck into a building, snuck
into a wire closet, installed a computer, and sucked data down onto it.

No, nothing contradictory about that. Move along.

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kls
It's cases like these that make Academia seem like such an antiquated idea.
The fact that institutions support the locking away of research, much of which
paid for by public funds and written by authors that intended fair use of
their information, reeks of hypocrisy. The fact that no one in academia has
spoke up on this case is damming to say the least. We as a society really need
to rapidly come to the conclusion that not everything need be for a buck,
especially when that something was paid for already via public funds and the
true creators of that content never intended for these lech quasi-Academia
organization, to be able to milk their work for generations.

~~~
glimcat
"The fact that no one in academia has spoke up on this case is damming to say
the least."

I'm an academic and I think it's a load of rubbish. Where are you getting your
facts?

~~~
kls
I have seen no media coverage of anyone at MIT or elsewhere condemning the
prosecution of Aaron. Nor have I seen any renowned individual of academia, at
any point, blog, pod-cast, or via lecture condemn the prosecution of Aaron,
just because one may think it is rubbish does not mean that they have given
their voice to the subject. The fact is there has been silence on the issue,
and that fact is derived from the silence, not from a human or media source.
If I am wrong I would love to be corrected, but I have not, to this date, seen
anyone of notoriety from MIT speak up.

~~~
glimcat
So which is it? Academics, or a notorious MIT professor?

You're blaming the problem on completely the wrong party to begin with.
Academic researchers are getting screwed by groups like JSTOR on a regular
basis. There are gorram huge movements in academia dedicated to working on
this problem. You're blaming the people who are actually doing the most to try
to fix this.

~~~
lambda
Well, to be fair, who is "Academia"? Is it the professors? Is it the
administrations? Is it the whole system, including universities (and all of
their issues down to football team scandals), publishers, college admissions
tests, and so on?

The thing is, there is a fairly substantial system set up around academia. It
includes people who run conferences, publishers, school administrators,
endowments, students, admissions, government grants, private grants,
standardized testing, and more. There is a lot of it that is fairly nasty.

Sure, there can be a few professors who object to some parts of it; but that
doesn't mean that the system as a whole isn't sick. Has there been any serious
institutional pushback against this prosecution?

I think that part of the the problem is that the people who matter the most in
academia (the professors and the students) have lost their voice to the
"industry" of academia; the administrations, publishers, the grant funding
bodies, and other people who have a vested financial interest in the system,
but who aren't the main producers or consumers of the value of academia.

------
GHFigs
Those new charges being: "...Breaking and Entering with Intent to Commit a
Felony, Larceny over $250, and Unauthorized Access to a Computer Network..."

[http://www.wickedlocal.com/cambridge/news/x1655830732/Reddit...](http://www.wickedlocal.com/cambridge/news/x1655830732/Reddit-
co-founder-indicted-in-connection-with-breaking-into-MIT-server-
room#axzz1e0Ok1QTk)

The earlier charges being: Wire Fraud, Computer Fraud, Unlawfully Obtaining
Information from a Protected Computer, and Recklessly Damaging a Protected
Computer.

[http://www.documentcloud.org/documents/217117-united-
states-...](http://www.documentcloud.org/documents/217117-united-states-of-
america-v-aaron-swartz)

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rms
:( Keep on fighting the good fight, aaronsw.

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conover
Wire fraud is a big one. Maximum of $1000000 fine and/or 30 years in prison.

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myhrvold
Link appears broken as of now, FYI... (1:00 AM EST)

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joelthelion
Is this data downloadable somewhere?

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alexwilliams
I think that hits it right on. Academia is as entrenched as most any powerful
copyright holder.

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101001011
Who is representing him? Lessig?

~~~
wmf
In the words of Michael Clayton, "you need a trial lawyer".

~~~
rdl
If I were him, I'd want Jennifer Granick on my team.

~~~
jimmyjim
Granick sold out a long time ago. She works for HBGary now. If I recall
correctly the whole e-mail dump revealed her to be the backstabbing twit she
is.

~~~
rdl
She is a lawyer. Her highest professional responsibility is to her clients. I
don't consider a great lawyer who defends a murderer to have the same morals
as the murderer, and without quality representation, justice can't be done.

I have met her on many occasions and she has always been competent and
helpful.

~~~
101001011
Apologies for nitpicking, but actually as a lawyer her highest responsibility
is to the court. Secondary to that is her obligation to her client. The reason
for this should be self-evident.

