Swartz set up a laptop surreptitiously plugged directly into a networking switch in a controlled-access closet on the MIT campus to which he did not have author

Swartz set up a laptop surreptitiously plugged directly into a networking switch in a controlled-access closet on the MIT campus to which he did not have authorized access. Importantly, Swartz's prosecution would not have been blocked by the SCOTUS decision in Van Buren because they make a distinction between improper use of computer access and improper access of a computer: Swartz did not have authorized access to the networking switch. However, if he had used Wifi, to connect to the MIT networking, the charges would have been unsustainable under the Van Buren decision because guests were permitted on the MIT wifi network (and he had a JSTOR account through his Harvard employee account), and his use of it would merely of been improper use at best (since he effectively DDOS'd JSTOR for other users and got MIT's IP range blocked) rather than improper access. EDIT: Note: a friend pointed out that the DDOS'ing of JSTOR could technically constitute a crime under the CFAA, depending on intent. In Swartz' case, the DDOS was an unintentional side effect of trying to download too much data at once for archival purposes so malicious intent was missing, but someone doing the same thing for the purpose of preventing access to the system could still be guilty of a crime.