If it was beyond scandalous that Aaron Swartz was facing 35 years in prison and millions of dollars in fines for downloading a bunch of obscure academic treatises without a subscription, it is beyond tragic that he is now dead.
Swartz, 26, a computer prodigy and open Internet activist, hanged himself in his Brooklyn apartment last Friday. While we will never know for sure why, many who love him and know him best believe that prosecutors bullied him to the grave.
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Sounds like a predictable result of prosecutorial overcharging -- in part to force a settlement in lieu of a trial -- and our perverse climate of pride in our own stupidity -- for example, so-called "zero tolerance".
To think that not one top CEO has been prosecuted in the wake of the recent financial crisis and the state came after this crime in such a heavy manner is unpardonable. The taxpayers were robbed for billions vs. a hacker releasing academic papers to the public domain. The verdict is a further erosion of public confidence in our institutions.
More legal research, less vitriol, please. Find the laws that were or were not broken and work hard to fix them if you don't like them.
"More legal research, less vitriol, please" ???? It's unclear who, or even what, this is directed towards.
It's very sad and tragic that this young man committed suicide. But no one "drove him to it". He was caught committing a crime and even if he thought he was doing it for the public good, he knew it was against the law. A plea deal of 6 months seems pretty decent. It's a shame he didn't take it.
Actually, he was not caught committing a crime. He was caught violating the terms of service of a web site, but charged by over-zealous prosecutors with a host of crimes.
Yes, he did commit a crime and you don't do the crime if you can't do the time
Thank you for writing this column, Kevin - these stories of inhuman prosecutors need to be told. Kathode, i totally disagree with your post and I wonder how you can possibly know what caused this young man to commit suicide? I also think it's easy for you to sit in your living room or wherever and say he should have agreed to 6 months in prison but you clearly don't know what you are talking about. On another note, I find it interesting that local attorney Marty Weinberg almost got the prosecutors to drop the prison requirement but the San Francisco attorney couldn't. Is justice dependent upon the personality (and level of fame) of the defense attorney?
A young man has taken his own life. This is a tragedy under any circumstances. Did the words and actions of the prosecutors and MIT cause his death? We'll never know for sure. One thing is certain, however, words can cause damage and death as surely as bullets can. We should all keep this in mind as we write, speak, and publish.
"Did the words and actions of the prosecutors and MIT cause his death? We'll never know for sure. "
Yes we will. They did not, since this man chose to take his own life. Exactly why he did is what we'll never know, since he left no statement, but regardless, it was a sad, wasteful, and ultimately futile gesture. Giving him the benefit of the doubt by assuming he meant it as a deliberate public statement, he simply must have meant to make people feel bad, and to thwart their authority, a pattern he had previously displayed, but with less finality. Alas, real change and progress is usually made only by those willing to carry on their fight, heedless of the consequences.
No, we don't know for sure whether the prosecution played a role in his suicide. There were probably multiple reasons, but I can't imagine that the prosecution wasn't one.
"this man chose to take his own life." I suppose there's truth in that if we assume that everything a person does involves a "choice." That is a comment made by an excessively egocentric person without normal human feelings or any knowledge of the workings of human emotions.
I believe the government went after this kid genius because they feared him. He was all about making secrets (government, academic, ect) public for the common goo
Meanwhile, Joel Tenenbaum, the former BU student, still faces the monstrously ridiculous $675,000 fine for downloading music. Is the U.S. Attorney's Office enamored of dealing with large, academic institutions?
Students talk. The Feds are making a point. For further explanation watch Kubrick's 'Paths of Glory'.
If you are a minority and get caught dealing, you spend three years in prison like a man and then figure out if you can turn your life around or not. If you are white and part of the world's elite, being asked to spend 4 months behind bars for breaking the law is inhuman. Sigh.
If you are a moron you post things like this. If you are a minority and stay out of trouble and work hard you can become the U.S. attorney or even the president. You would not understand for many people, white, black, brown,etc. a day in jail would be very difficult, it would be more so for a person who suffers depression. Someone like you wouldn't understand that.
He didn't break any laws. He violated the terms of service of an internet site.
And why was he in the Feds over-enthusiastic sites? Was it related to his criticism of the administrations "Kill List" and drone attacks?
The Federal Prosecuter in the Swartz case was none other than the 2011 Bostonian of the Year, Carmen Ortiz. Among her other more notable recent convictions have been Sal Damasi, Dianne Wilkerson, Chuck Turner and the Sudbury's own local terrorist, Tarek Mehanna. With the exception of Wilkerson, there has been a distant but steady drum beat citing over zealous prosecution in each of these high profile cases and if you look at the charging profiles of her staff in less notable cases - there is certainly a trend - they throw the book, then the shelve and finally collapse the law library on top of the defendant. But this is the way the system works - over charge in the extreme and then bargin down to expidite a favorable outcome. If the case does go to trial, five and dime graft hardly makes an impression with a jury - when the charging documents must be brought in on a cart - now we're talking justice. Was Swartz over charged - probably not within the letter of the law and there is a wide disconnect between how young adults and institutions view digital property. Everything is monetized - even the best ideas of our most brilliant men and women and there is no free lunch despite the idealism of youth. Going back to Ms. Ortiz - when you appoint Torquemada, and applaud her actions against public graft, corruption or home grown terrorism, we cannot shed too many tears at the grinding of the court. .
Swartz was a 26 year old man. Every article I've read has practically infantilized him. At the end of the day he was a grownup who chose to give up the fight.
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A 35 year sentence is sadistic. And being labeled a felon for the rest of one's life, at age 26, is extremely damaging.
I have said this before: No question, in my opinion, that many prosecutors have a sociopathic side to themselves. You see them doing this kind of thing - and even lying or ignoring evidence that is in favor of the accused - in many situations. Why aren't the prosecutors held accountable for their actions?
This young man was prone to severe depression and someone's cruelty pushed him over the edge, it seems.
There have been rumors that Ortiz was going to run for governor in two years. I think she can forget that since she has lost the techie vote in this state, including mine.
Kevin: Where have you been? Ortiz is like a mad monk punishing everyone as severely as she possibly can. In a comment to the blog www.thetrialofwhiteybulger.com that carried a story on this one commentator said she said "stealing is stealing." Reminds me of Queen Victoria who said the same thing and hung the starving peasants who stole a piece of bread. A crime is a crime, "off with their heads."
Did you think indicting the probation officers under RICO was way out of line? Do you think the sentence recommendation of 10 years for Catherine Greig was far in excess of what she deserved and over three times what the probabation department recommended. She was sentenced to eight years as if she was an accessory after the fact yet there was no evidence she knew Whitey Bulger was even charged with the murders. What about her actions trying to seize the Caswell Motel a family owned business where there was one transaction involving drugs a year over a twelve year period without any knowledge of the owner who rented thousands upon thousands of room a year.
When she does what the Globe is pushing for she's the woman of the year but in reality she's somewhat of a disaster.
You said it yourself: "While we will never know for sure why, many who love him and know him best believe that prosecutors bullied him to the grave." :Pure conjecture. No one knows why he did it. I sympathize for his family but please, enough with this hero worship.
Steve Jobs hacked the telephone network and designed and sold black boxes so people could make free long distance calls. The Bell System never prosecuted, nor did the Feds.. Thank goodness. There are a huge number of stories like that among the most creative people in any culture.
If we're going to have a future of innovation, we have treat our non-violent mavericks carefully lest we stifle our future. You don't have to rent a room to them or socialize with them or think they have anything in common with you. Just leave them alone. Please. For America.
"Just leave them alone. Please. For America." Sure, just try to remember that generosity of spirit the next time one of them hacks into your credit card data, crashes your computer with a virus, or compromises national security because their principles transcend mere legal strictures. For every Steve Jobs we get a thousand low level crooks.