He was technically guilty of trespassing. (I know, the closet he was using was also reportedly in use by a homeless person, and MIT apparently looked the other

He was technically guilty of trespassing. (I know, the closet he was using was also reportedly in use by a homeless person, and MIT apparently looked the other way.) He did intend to distribute the articles, even if he didn't actually do so. I'm actually unsure what I think about this; some say "no harm, no foul", but others point out that we don't normally let people off the hook for crimes they were in the middle of committing just because they were prevented from completing them. Personally, I think that Swartz did not properly consider that even though the articles he intended to distribute were in the public domain, the scans of those articles he was downloading belonged to JSTOR. He also did not consider the impact of his actions on other JSTOR users at MIT. I don't think he should have served any jail time, but I do think a small slap on the wrist -- a small fine and some community service -- would have been in order. Felony charges, on the other hand, were way, way, way out of proportion.