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Obama's administration was "setting an example" a bit too much, don't you think?! They got blood of many people on their hands. ( Like Aaron Swartz':( )

kahrkunne 10y ago
Swartz killed himself though. Unpopular opinion, but people need to stop acting like anybody but Swartz himself was responsible for his death. He wasn't even mistreated that bad, and he did knowingly break the law
- yadabadabada 10y ago
  He was rich from reddit and would have had to lose all his money fighting the case...and he still might have ended up in a cage for years...Seems like pretty bad treatment over scraping academic PDFs. The response was entirely unwarranted. Violating a website's terms of service should not cost anyone their life savings or years in federal prison. A slap on the wrist? Sure...but they treated him like a "cyber terrorist" and tried to make an example of the softest possible kind of "criminal". If the PDF website doesn't have anti-crawling technology then that's their fault. He didn't do anything more than stick a laptop on MIT's network and crawl the content. Any student might have done the same...should they have their life ruined?
  - CameronBanga 10y ago
    I mean, what Aaron had noble goals. But he did break into networks and physical locations he had no right to be in. He knowingly broke laws, to do what he did. And I'm not sure what "being rich" and losing his money matters. He knew the potential consequence of his actions. He got caught, and was likely facing in reality, a year in prison for his actions if he didn't take a plea. But he committed crimes knowingly for the purpose of what he saw as a noble act. That's admirable. But the narrative that he was a martyr maybe goes a bit far.
    - ffggvv 10y ago
      And those responsible for the 2008 crisis why aren't arrested?
- jpalomaki 10y ago
  If this report[1] of him being threatened with 50 years of jail in correct, I would say he was treated quite badly. [1] https://www.techdirt.com/articles/20120917/17393320412/us-government-ups-felony-count-jstoraaron-swartz-case-four-to-thirteen.shtml https://www.techdirt.com/articles/20120917/17393320412/us-go...
  - ryanlol 10y ago
    >Depending on how many of the counts Swartz is found guilty of, the sentence could conceivably total 50+ years and fine in the area of $4 million. The author is American so it's somewhat depressing he misunderstands the legal process so badly. There is no conceivable scenario where Swartz could have been sentenced to 50 years in prison. Swartz's legal situation wasn't particularly grim and his lawyers would most certainly have informed him of this fact. http://volokh.com/2013/01/16/the-criminal-charges-against-aaron-swartz-part-2-prosecutorial-discretion/ http://volokh.com/2013/01/16/the-criminal-charges-against-aa...
- Philipp__ 10y ago
  The way US Gov. pursued and persecuted (with them publicly saying they wanted to make an example) really makes me think that they killed him. Aaron and his family spent more than $1M on courts and lawyers, Aaron was broke, and he was facing 35 years of prison, for WHAT?! He didn't sell the files nor he had plans to profit on them, and probably people that used things he uploaded wouldn't pay for them, so the way I see it, he's charge was intentionally made up to 35 years, thanks to broken and prehistoric "The Computer Fraud and Abuse Act". People don't face that much years in prison for manslaughter. And Aaron wasn't profiting from any of those "crimes". So again, the way I see it, is that he was too smart for US Gov. and he was not willing to bow down to broken system and corruption. They killed him because they were afraid of him and they used that to make an example. Which makes me sick!

kahrkunne 10y ago

Swartz killed himself though. Unpopular opinion, but people need to stop acting like anybody but Swartz himself was responsible for his death. He wasn't even mistreated that bad, and he did knowingly break the law

yadabadabada 10y ago
He was rich from reddit and would have had to lose all his money fighting the case...and he still might have ended up in a cage for years...Seems like pretty bad treatment over scraping academic PDFs. The response was entirely unwarranted. Violating a website's terms of service should not cost anyone their life savings or years in federal prison. A slap on the wrist? Sure...but they treated him like a "cyber terrorist" and tried to make an example of the softest possible kind of "criminal". If the PDF website doesn't have anti-crawling technology then that's their fault. He didn't do anything more than stick a laptop on MIT's network and crawl the content. Any student might have done the same...should they have their life ruined?
- CameronBanga 10y ago
  I mean, what Aaron had noble goals. But he did break into networks and physical locations he had no right to be in. He knowingly broke laws, to do what he did. And I'm not sure what "being rich" and losing his money matters. He knew the potential consequence of his actions. He got caught, and was likely facing in reality, a year in prison for his actions if he didn't take a plea. But he committed crimes knowingly for the purpose of what he saw as a noble act. That's admirable. But the narrative that he was a martyr maybe goes a bit far.
  - ffggvv 10y ago
    And those responsible for the 2008 crisis why aren't arrested?
jpalomaki 10y ago
If this report[1] of him being threatened with 50 years of jail in correct, I would say he was treated quite badly. [1] https://www.techdirt.com/articles/20120917/17393320412/us-government-ups-felony-count-jstoraaron-swartz-case-four-to-thirteen.shtml https://www.techdirt.com/articles/20120917/17393320412/us-go...
- ryanlol 10y ago
  >Depending on how many of the counts Swartz is found guilty of, the sentence could conceivably total 50+ years and fine in the area of $4 million. The author is American so it's somewhat depressing he misunderstands the legal process so badly. There is no conceivable scenario where Swartz could have been sentenced to 50 years in prison. Swartz's legal situation wasn't particularly grim and his lawyers would most certainly have informed him of this fact. http://volokh.com/2013/01/16/the-criminal-charges-against-aaron-swartz-part-2-prosecutorial-discretion/ http://volokh.com/2013/01/16/the-criminal-charges-against-aa...
Philipp__ 10y ago
The way US Gov. pursued and persecuted (with them publicly saying they wanted to make an example) really makes me think that they killed him. Aaron and his family spent more than $1M on courts and lawyers, Aaron was broke, and he was facing 35 years of prison, for WHAT?! He didn't sell the files nor he had plans to profit on them, and probably people that used things he uploaded wouldn't pay for them, so the way I see it, he's charge was intentionally made up to 35 years, thanks to broken and prehistoric "The Computer Fraud and Abuse Act". People don't face that much years in prison for manslaughter. And Aaron wasn't profiting from any of those "crimes". So again, the way I see it, is that he was too smart for US Gov. and he was not willing to bow down to broken system and corruption. They killed him because they were afraid of him and they used that to make an example. Which makes me sick!