

A Data Crusader, a Defendant and Now, a Cause - PankajGhosh
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/01/14/technology/aaron-swartz-a-data-crusader-and-now-a-cause.html?hp&pagewanted=all

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sociotech
I'm genuinely perplexed by the ongoing coverage of this story and many of the
comments here.

First, the discussion of the legal situation lacks any perspective. Only
people who spend all their time focused on technology policy would interpret
Aaron's death as a call for technology-crime reform. Compared to the rest of
the western world, the US has longer sentences for crimes across the board.
Every day, people get sentenced to many years in prison (and it's disingenuous
of Lessig to suggest Swartz would have gotten anything close to decades in
prison for these charges) for nonviolent drug offenses, get life imprisonments
for mere possession of child pornography often downloaded without plausibly
motivating any child abuse, and so on. Even violent crimes in the US lead to
sentences that in Europe seem inhumane to most people. I don't mean to sound
insensitive to the recently departed here, but Aaron was a very lucky person
who had significantly more opportunity to comply with the law than many. Civil
disobedience can be great, but regardless of whether it is or not in any
particular case, it usually comes with penalties. It's very hard to see Swartz
as a victim of the United States Attorney's Office nearly as much as whole
swaths of poor people and African American communities, for example, are
victimized by laws and by simple situation. Again, perspective is important.
What's happening here seems very much like an insular group of people like us,
some of whom (like Lessig) happen to be connected with some journalists,
understandably upset about the death of a friend and lashing out. But that is
irresponsible, and I don't just mean politically; it is very likely also
unfair to the family, who are probably not in a great position at the moment
to assess how public they'd prefer their son's death to be (even if they know
they are angry at the people who prosecuted him).

Second, and related, the message of Lessig and of many others seems to be
"don't turn the death of my friend into a discussion of mental illness; turn
it into a discussion of my pet causes." But it obviously has a profound
connection to mental illness and also to the social and psychological
pressures that people who seek "fame" in the technology community seem
routinely to experience. That is a far better subject for critique, in
response to this kind of heartbreaking tragedy, than US sentencing policy writ
large (a topic about which few programmers have significant experience).
There's a whole online subculture that feeds off people's insecurities and
need for attention, their desire to feel "influential" or "famous" in a tiny
but vocal community of like-minded people. I am virtually certain that that
subculture hurt Aaron as much as any prosecutorial discretion did here. It is
worth reminding everyone that a vanishingly small number of criminal
defendants in the US commit suicide, despite whatever injustice they feel
about their charges and despite any accusations of prosecutorial overreach.

Third, there is a significant overemphasis in the press of the "debate" among
a relatively small but vocal community of people like, frankly, us. The NY
Times confidently reported today that Swartz's death triggered a widespread
debate, when the political debate really is just among people who were already
activists, most of whom knew Aaron personally. Just because someone is friends
with journalists and people like Lessig does not imply that that person's
tragic death is the subject, much less the proper subject, for a public
debate, unless of course what we're really talking about is a self-styled
internet "high society" that wants to turn one of its own into a martyr. But
that would be manipulative and shortsighted, and it is hard to see how it
could possibly be a praiseworthy method for achieving social change. Lessig's
immediate, political response to Aaron's death took him down a significant
notch in my view.

Fourth, but less important, as with many deaths and many suicides in
particular, there is very little realism in the discussion of the recently
dead. As most people do, Aaron touched many. That should be praised and
discussed, but the rest should not be inflated. It would be insensitive to
point out particular inaccuracies in the coverage of him, but a big part of me
does think that truth is more important than whitewashing memory. Remembering
people for what they were is a far better honor than remembering grandiose
caricatures of them.

The response I urge for those who knew him personally is private grief and
personal reflection, though perhaps that is suited to a different age in which
the goal of motivated people is not to attract as much personal attention on
the internet as possible. And yes, sentencing in the US should eventually be
totally reformed, but technology crimes are hardly the most important or most
pressing piece of that puzzle. It's easy for us to forget that just because it
interests us.

~~~
jeswin
_The NY Times confidently reported today that Swartz's death triggered a
widespread debate, when the political debate really is just among..._

I live in far away India. I know friends (not from a software background) who
have read about it and were wondering why the US justice system would try to
harm one of its brightest young minds over copying some scientific journals.
Trust me, the charges are unthinkable in pretty much the entire rest of the
world.

He belonged to the whole world really.

~~~
alan_cx
Yup, same here in the UK. Although, we don't have the best track record in
this regard either.

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fchollet
It's nice to see the mainstream media taking less of a conservative 'anti-
hacker, pro-government' stance on that tragedy. Hopefully this is just the
beginning.

~~~
kzahel
I'm glad too to see that it's getting widespread coverage. Most people I talk
to aren't aware of what happened. I think it has been really positive how much
support we have all been showing for his family and friends. It's sad that the
rally of support had to follow such a tragic event.

~~~
chime
My wife is a surgery PA and today one of the scrub techs asked her if she
heard about the internet hacker suicide. She said her husband (I) was very
disturbed by the news and that based on what she read, the prosecutors pushed
the kid too far for something that is barely a crime. The scrub didn't know
about the open case, just that it was some hacker who was depressed.

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pseingatl
t's quite easy to calculate the likely sentence. The Federal Sentencing
Guidelines provide for a base level of 6, plus an 18 step increase for fraud
between $2,500,000 and $7,000,000. The sentencing range at this level assuming
no criminal history is 57-71 months. Expect supervised release (no computers)
for three years. The fine would be up to the sentencing judge within statutory
limits. The government estimated the value of the JStor documents at $5
million. Even if the government's estimate was exaggerated, the documents were
worth something--and this figure would drive the sentence to be imposed. The
judge could also depart upward based on aggravating factors such as PACER and
a lack of remorse. Swartz faced with no good choices. When he did not take the
offered plea, they superseded and racheted up the counts. The number of counts
doesn't really matter for Guidelines purposes but there is always the risk
that the sentencing judge could impose the sentences for each count
consecutively.

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teyc
Somewhat related: [http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1212910/How-
Britain-...](http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1212910/How-Britain-
drove-greatest-genius-Alan-Turing-suicide--just-gay.html)

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jtchang
This is a fantastic article. It brings about some important points regarding
how free information should be and how much leeway prosecutors should have
when deciding what charges to bring.

