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It's absurd. People are fetishizing someone who did nothing but kill himself. People need to get over his needless sacrifice and realize that the "onerous plea
by 123456a 14y ago
It's absurd. People are fetishizing someone who did nothing but kill himself. People need to get over his needless sacrifice and realize that the "onerous plea bargain" was merely six months in prison.
Or were we supposed to engage in a witchhunt against some prosecutor? I forget what we're supposed to do for "justice".
- flexie 14y agoWhy do you say he did nothing but kill himself? He did a lot more than just that. And does anyone think he killed himself because of facing 6 months of jail time?
- kevingadd 14y agoBeing branded a felon isn't a minor slap on the wrist in the US. It's a big deal.
- Volpe 14y agoAs I understand it, being branded a felon in the U.S is a big deal... you essentially lose a bunch of 'rights' that you have as a citizen. This dominos on to making it harder to find jobs, places to live, loans... etc. You could argue someone with Swartz status in the community would alleviate some of those things... but I'm not sure how far that goes.
- twoodfin 14y agoOne of the founders of YCombinator was convicted of a felony under the CFAA. In addition to having made enough money with pg to do that sort of thing, he's also an (excellent) professor at MIT. A felony conviction sucks, but it's not a huge price to pay if you're serious about changing the world (or think you'll probably lose at trial).