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Aaronsw indicted for hacking MIT network to download millions of JSTOR docs

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Re: Aaronsw indicted for hacking MIT network to download millions of JSTOR docs

#81

Post by mbreese »

johngalt wrote: post #57
mbreese wrote: post #43

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> no operative security barriers in place I don't know... Even if my front door was open, you still aren't allowed to enter my house without my permission.

But there is an element of permission inherent in DHCP. Your device is actively configuring my device specifically to allow network access . It's not an open door; it's a sign saying "This way please". That said, its obvious this was an attempt to circumvent access controls.

I'm unfamiliar with MIT's guest setup, but I assume they let you get an IP address, but before you can access anything, you have to acknowledge their terms of service / acceptable use policy. If you fail to abide by this, you'd be accessing the network without permission.

You're right that (as alleged), this would be an obvious attempt to circumvent access controls.

Given the way things are worded, I'm guessing that the MIT computer that was improperly accessed was a router or switch. Hell, just plugging into the switch directly could be construed as unapproved access to a computer device. I think the Federal law treats anything with a processor a computer.

Re: Aaronsw indicted for hacking MIT network to download millions of JSTOR docs

#82

Post by a3camero »

thisuser wrote: post #69
_delirium wrote: post #59

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I wasn't really commenting on the legal sufficiency of the indictment, just the rhetorical dishonesty of accusing someone of "steal[ing] well over 4,000,000 articles from JSTOR" (quote from the indictment) when JSTOR didn't own those articles. They could've just alleged violation of JSTOR's TOS and thereby theft of network services. I suspect JSTOR or people sympathetic to them had a hand in writing the indictment, t…

He is accused of stealing bandwidth from JSTOR, not the documents. "Theft of services" not theft of property. Theft of bandwidth is almost as absurd as theft via copying. JSTOR apparently isn't interested in free transmission of knowledge

If you read the indictment you'll see that they very much are not interested in free transmission of knowledge.

They charge >$50k/yr for access: " For a large research university, this annual subscription fee for JSTOR’s various collections of content can cost more than $50,000."

Re: Aaronsw indicted for hacking MIT network to download millions of JSTOR docs

#83

Post by rryan »

blinkingled wrote: post #67
basugasubaku wrote: post #63

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The papers are from JSTOR, not MIT. MIT pays for a subscription to JSTOR like many other universities do.

But is it clear that MIT does not also store its research papers in JSTOR instead of making them publicly available? Reading the article I did not get that impression.

While many researchers at MIT publish in journals that sometimes have restrictions on the distribution of their papers (exclusivity, etc.), most MIT publications are issued via:

1) DSpace http://dspace.mit.edu (an open publishing platform for academic material. Most all theses produced by MIT researchers can be accessed by the public here)

2) as an MIT technical report (mostly published via dspace)

3) as an MIT "Working Paper"

You can find more information here: http://libraries.mit.edu/docs/research-publications.html

Certainly, a huge number of MIT publications do end up being mirrored in JSTOR, but they are usually published via whatever journal or conference proceeding they are accepted to first. If an author cannot find a journal that is willing to publish their paper, then they will probably issue it as an MIT technical report.

Re: Aaronsw indicted for hacking MIT network to download millions of JSTOR docs

#84

Post by a3camero »

sp332 wrote: post #64
SpikeGronim wrote: post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"Does anyone think it's odd that an Acer laptop could write these files to disk faster than JSTOR could serve them?" Nope. I bet the JSTOR servers are serving many concurrent requests. If he had the servers to himself then yes, that would be surprising.

FTA: This is more than one hundred times the number of downloads during the same period by all the legitimate MIT JSTOR users combined It sounds like he was using the majority of their resources. But maybe those servers serve lots of places, and they only mentioned MIT as an example.

They do. Universities across Canada also subscribe to this.

Re: Aaronsw indicted for hacking MIT network to download millions of JSTOR docs

#85

Post by _delirium »

jrockway wrote: post #79
SpikeGronim wrote: post #22

Earlier quoted context omitted.

IANAL, but legally speaking unauthorized access is a crime regardless of how easy it was to gain access.

This is a very frightening belief. How long until posting a negative comment to a blog is "unautorized access" to that blog? Gaining access was easy: all you had to do was type a comment and hit submit. But some Powers That Be decided they didn't really want you to post that, so now it's a federal computer crime. Land of the free.

That's currently unsettled, and yes a lot of computer-crime experts (even typically law-and-order-leaning ones) consider it a huge problem--- it might actually be a federal crime to post a comment on a blog in violation of the blog's Terms of Service.

This case is currently winding its way through the courts, and will hopefully be overturned: http://volokh.com/2011/06/14/petition-for-rehearing-filed-in...

Re: Aaronsw indicted for hacking MIT network to download millions of JSTOR docs

#87

Post by gcb »

Alex3917 wrote: post #41
_delirium wrote: post #27

The repeated use of "stole" in the indictment is interesting, even beyond the usual metaphorical usage to discuss copyright infringement. In this case, the indictment alleges that the documents were stolen from JSTOR , which does not even own them! In the vast majority of cases JSTOR scanned documents whose copyright is owned by someone else, and acquired or was donated a non-exclusive license to distribute copies vi…

They are talking about theft of services, not copyright infringement. In any event these charges are going to be very difficult to beat since they're federal, even though there are some obvious holes in the indictment. It will be almost impossible to get any of the evidence thrown out even if there was an illegal search and seizure. His best bet is probably to get the Harvard legal team to go to bat for him, although…

> They are talking about theft of services

if it's theft of service why measure it on number of works?

it's like accusing you of using your neighbour wifi to steal over one thousand emails (which you read from your own email account)

Re: Aaronsw indicted for hacking MIT network to download millions of JSTOR docs

#88

Post by feydr »

can someone please explain what the deal is here for us uninitiated? sounds like they are throwing the book at him for stealing books? seriously? why is the prosecution being so aggressive? did he profit from it or something? this sounds so petty

Re: Aaronsw indicted for hacking MIT network to download millions of JSTOR docs

#89

Post by blinkingled »

rryan wrote: post #83
blinkingled wrote: post #67

Earlier quoted context omitted.

But is it clear that MIT does not also store its research papers in JSTOR instead of making them publicly available? Reading the article I did not get that impression.

While many researchers at MIT publish in journals that sometimes have restrictions on the distribution of their papers (exclusivity, etc.), most MIT publications are issued via: 1) DSpace http://dspace.mit.edu (an open publishing platform for academic material. Most all theses produced by MIT researchers can be accessed by the public here) 2) as an MIT technical report (mostly published via dspace) 3) as an MIT "Work…

Ok, that's actually useful information. I find MIT's approach fairly reasonable - may be all others should follow suit and JSTOR-like walls would not be necessary some day.

Re: Aaronsw indicted for hacking MIT network to download millions of JSTOR docs

#90

Post by samlevine »

llimllib wrote: post #24
rryan wrote: post #12

"Aaron Swartz ... was a fellow at Harvard University’s Center for Ethics"

It is not impossible to imagine a code of morality which views his alleged actions as ethical.

The only reason he's not a hero is that he didn't put all the PDFs up on a torrent. We are the library now.
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