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Headline: MIT faulted over its support for students Caption under picture: Critics say MIT also should have intervened in the case of Aaron Swartz. Swartz was

Headline: MIT faulted over its support for students Caption under picture: Critics say MIT also should have intervened in the case of Aaron Swartz. Swartz was never a student at MIT.

wolfgke 13y ago
> Swartz was never a student at MIT. But he represented values for which the MIT stands in its self-characterisation.
yourcelf 13y ago
If you'd like MIT students who were impacted by the administration's callous lack of support, consider: - the MBTA "hackers", 2008: http://www.openmediaboston.org/content/mbta-suit-against-mit-charlie-card-hackers-may-perpetuate-vulnerabilities http://www.openmediaboston.org/content/mbta-suit-against-mit... - Star Simpson, 2007: http://www.boston.com/news/globe/city_region/breaking_news/2007/09/mit_student_arr.html http://www.boston.com/news/globe/city_region/breaking_news/2... - Ryan McKinley's "Government Information Awareness", 2003: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Government_Information_Awareness https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Government_Information_Awarene... - Andrew "Bunnie" Huang, 2002, XBox hacker: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andrew_Huang https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andrew_Huang - Ladyada, 2002: http://www.ladyada.net/pub/research.html http://www.ladyada.net/pub/research.html - David LaMacchia, 1994: http://cd.textfiles.com/group42/WAREZ/LAMACCHI.HTM http://cd.textfiles.com/group42/WAREZ/LAMACCHI.HTM And these are only a few cases that made headlines; there are many additional controversies handled more quietly. The point remains that the MIT General Counsel's office exists to protect the institute, not the students, even while MIT's culture rewards innovative, boundary-pushing work. The point at issue here is that MIT needs a legal support structure for such students commensurate with its encouragement of the work.
- dobbsbob 13y ago
  I don't know of any university that would stand up for their students. My old school doesn't even do tenure anymore so they can muzzle the staff, and is run by successive former political hacks who all chaired some partisan fundraising society and were parachuted into the dean's office through cronyism. The associate and vice presidents are real estate speculators and lobbyists or did party fundraising who've been busy building large private condos on endowment land to sell to foreign investors in order to personally profit. Defending a student from feds means risking their careers since they only got these positions through political connections. All of them go on to the Dept of Foreign Affairs or some other government appointed position. This is just a stepping stone for them, who cares about students.
- goldbeck 13y ago
  Definitely! What's pretty cool is that this is exactly the response of MIT administration as well http://tech.mit.edu/V134/N7/tidbit.html http://tech.mit.edu/V134/N7/tidbit.html
- sliverstorm 13y ago
  Your parents point is not that MIT has done no wrong, but that Swartz is not the right example.
IvyMike 13y ago
Isn't that why they used the word "also"?

Headline: MIT faulted over its support for students Caption under picture: Critics say MIT also should have intervened in the case of Aaron Swartz. Swartz was never a student at MIT.

wolfgke 13y ago

> Swartz was never a student at MIT. But he represented values for which the MIT stands in its self-characterisation.

yourcelf 13y ago

If you'd like MIT students who were impacted by the administration's callous lack of support, consider: - the MBTA "hackers", 2008: http://www.openmediaboston.org/content/mbta-suit-against-mit-charlie-card-hackers-may-perpetuate-vulnerabilities http://www.openmediaboston.org/content/mbta-suit-against-mit... - Star Simpson, 2007: http://www.boston.com/news/globe/city_region/breaking_news/2007/09/mit_student_arr.html http://www.boston.com/news/globe/city_region/breaking_news/2... - Ryan McKinley's "Government Information Awareness", 2003: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Government_Information_Awareness https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Government_Information_Awarene... - Andrew "Bunnie" Huang, 2002, XBox hacker: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andrew_Huang https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andrew_Huang - Ladyada, 2002: http://www.ladyada.net/pub/research.html http://www.ladyada.net/pub/research.html - David LaMacchia, 1994: http://cd.textfiles.com/group42/WAREZ/LAMACCHI.HTM http://cd.textfiles.com/group42/WAREZ/LAMACCHI.HTM And these are only a few cases that made headlines; there are many additional controversies handled more quietly. The point remains that the MIT General Counsel's office exists to protect the institute, not the students, even while MIT's culture rewards innovative, boundary-pushing work. The point at issue here is that MIT needs a legal support structure for such students commensurate with its encouragement of the work.

dobbsbob 13y ago
I don't know of any university that would stand up for their students. My old school doesn't even do tenure anymore so they can muzzle the staff, and is run by successive former political hacks who all chaired some partisan fundraising society and were parachuted into the dean's office through cronyism. The associate and vice presidents are real estate speculators and lobbyists or did party fundraising who've been busy building large private condos on endowment land to sell to foreign investors in order to personally profit. Defending a student from feds means risking their careers since they only got these positions through political connections. All of them go on to the Dept of Foreign Affairs or some other government appointed position. This is just a stepping stone for them, who cares about students.
goldbeck 13y ago
Definitely! What's pretty cool is that this is exactly the response of MIT administration as well http://tech.mit.edu/V134/N7/tidbit.html http://tech.mit.edu/V134/N7/tidbit.html
sliverstorm 13y ago
Your parents point is not that MIT has done no wrong, but that Swartz is not the right example.

IvyMike 13y ago

Isn't that why they used the word "also"?