Sorry, but I can't go with Linus on this one. The purpose of that press release was to educate the public about the case, including the crime of which Swartz wa

Sorry, but I can't go with Linus on this one. The purpose of that press release was to educate the public about the case, including the crime of which Swartz was accused, and stating the maximum penalty for the crime is part of that. It does not imply that the maximum penalty is being sought. Swartz was a talented man, no doubt about it, but he became a zealot, and zealots do stupid things. When he realized that he wasn't going to escape justice because ZOMGAARONSWARTZ -which is basically what JSTOR tried to do, and the Justice Department wasn't buying that because it would have been, in a word, unjust- he did something rash, and that brings us to today. He was not a saint, he was not a "light of the world, put out too soon", and he certainly shouldn't be elevated to martyr status.