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Thank you for detailing exactly what happened. The intimidation of the stacked charges led to Swartz's suicide. The gov. was 100% responsible for his death, w

Thank you for detailing exactly what happened. The intimidation of the stacked charges led to Swartz's suicide. The gov. was 100% responsible for his death, which is why I say they killed him, indirectly, but they still caused the anguish that made him feel like suicide was the only way out. Sadly this strategy is used all too often on citizens, plea deal offered to say "look they pleaded guilty, we were right", otherwise you get the stick, life in jail.

dumbo-octopus 3y ago
> The gov. was 100% responsible for his death Not if you believe in personal accountability. He made a choice, he faced the consequences; he made a choice again, he faced those consequences. If I kill a man and am given a very long sentence, then kill myself to avoid the wait, it's not the government's fault I died.
- ALittleLight 3y ago
  Ahh, "personal accountability" for the victims. It's the victim's fault the government threatened them with decades of imprisonment over a minor "crime". Where is the personal accountability for the prosecutor? There is a notion of reckless disregard for human life in the law. If you are throwing bricks off an overpass just for fun, you are still guilty of murder if you kill someone - because you have reckless disregard for human life even though you weren't trying to kill anyone. Likewise, a prosecutor who threatens someone with decades in prison for freely distributing academic material displays a reckless disregard for human life. Even if the prosecutor didn't intend to provoke a suicide the prosecutor was doing something bad with a reckless disregard for human life and it got someone killed. That's murder, in my view. Perhaps you should ask for accountability from the prosecutor/murderer rather than from her victim.
  - dumbo-octopus 3y ago
    Yes, she is accountable for her actions of making clear the gravity of the matter and letting him have an easy out of 6 months in low security prison should he make the choice of his own free will to admit his trespassing and copyright infringement were illegal. And he is accountable for his actions of refusing to do that, and furthermore refusing to participate in the matter whatsoever.

dumbo-octopus 3y ago

> The gov. was 100% responsible for his death Not if you believe in personal accountability. He made a choice, he faced the consequences; he made a choice again, he faced those consequences. If I kill a man and am given a very long sentence, then kill myself to avoid the wait, it's not the government's fault I died.

ALittleLight 3y ago
Ahh, "personal accountability" for the victims. It's the victim's fault the government threatened them with decades of imprisonment over a minor "crime". Where is the personal accountability for the prosecutor? There is a notion of reckless disregard for human life in the law. If you are throwing bricks off an overpass just for fun, you are still guilty of murder if you kill someone - because you have reckless disregard for human life even though you weren't trying to kill anyone. Likewise, a prosecutor who threatens someone with decades in prison for freely distributing academic material displays a reckless disregard for human life. Even if the prosecutor didn't intend to provoke a suicide the prosecutor was doing something bad with a reckless disregard for human life and it got someone killed. That's murder, in my view. Perhaps you should ask for accountability from the prosecutor/murderer rather than from her victim.
- dumbo-octopus 3y ago
  Yes, she is accountable for her actions of making clear the gravity of the matter and letting him have an easy out of 6 months in low security prison should he make the choice of his own free will to admit his trespassing and copyright infringement were illegal. And he is accountable for his actions of refusing to do that, and furthermore refusing to participate in the matter whatsoever.