Aren’t the two cases fundamentally different?
Aaron Swartz was prosecuted for scraping, while Meta does it without consequence
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Re: Aaron Swartz was prosecuted for scraping, while Meta does it without consequence
#42Earlier quoted context omitted.
And even then, it wasn’t really about justice but more for the prosecutor, Carmen Ortiz’s career advancement. The case ultimately did not help her in her run for governor of MA.
How does prosecuting someone who downloaded articles in a broom closet help her career advancement?
I suppose in pleasing the right people with money and power.
Re: Aaron Swartz was prosecuted for scraping, while Meta does it without consequence
#43Earlier quoted context omitted.
And even then, it wasn’t really about justice but more for the prosecutor, Carmen Ortiz’s career advancement. The case ultimately did not help her in her run for governor of MA.
How does prosecuting someone who downloaded articles in a broom closet help her career advancement?
prosecutors with higher conviction rates are typically viewed more favorably than prosecutors with lower conviction rates.
Re: Aaron Swartz was prosecuted for scraping, while Meta does it without consequence
#44Swartz was federally charged with wire fraud and violations of the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act based on allegedly unauthorized access, not simply prosecuted for copyright infringement or “downloading articles.” Also, he was offered a plea deal of 6 months and his own attorneys did not expect him to serve any time even if rejecting the plea deal and convicted.
Meta is accused of civil copyright infringement.
Very different things.
Re: Aaron Swartz was prosecuted for scraping, while Meta does it without consequence
#45Earlier quoted context omitted.
And even then, it wasn’t really about justice but more for the prosecutor, Carmen Ortiz’s career advancement. The case ultimately did not help her in her run for governor of MA.
How does prosecuting someone who downloaded articles in a broom closet help her career advancement?
"look at me, I'm serving the interests of the incumbent education and medical industries by prosecuting the shit out of someone who dared give them the bird, now donate to my campaign".
Re: Aaron Swartz was prosecuted for scraping, while Meta does it without consequence
#46Ok and so what? We have been informed of an injustice, we are now angry. Now what? What do we want? Do we agree that the prosecution was unjust and wrong, celebrate that Meta is not being criminally prosecuted, lash out at the publishers filing the lawsuit and advocate for an official apology from the prosecutors and government that went after Aaron? Or do we think that the prosecution was correct, apologize ourselve…
I think the point is to make corporate decision-makers bear some personal responsibility for the consequences of decisions made in pursuit of profit, growth or dominance. If all the upside is personal or corporate while the legal and social costs are simply externalised, there is very little incentive for restraint, no?
As to the latter, I think a mixture of commodification and the almost Pavlovian conditioning produced by corporate social media explains both its attraction and its resilience in the face of more democratic and emancipatory alternatives.
Re: Aaron Swartz was prosecuted for scraping, while Meta does it without consequence
#47Aren’t the two cases fundamentally different?
If you’re going to leave a comment like this you need to at least outline your thinking as to why you feel they’re different.
Re: Aaron Swartz was prosecuted for scraping, while Meta does it without consequence
#48Earlier quoted context omitted.
And even then, it wasn’t really about justice but more for the prosecutor, Carmen Ortiz’s career advancement. The case ultimately did not help her in her run for governor of MA.
How does prosecuting someone who downloaded articles in a broom closet help her career advancement?
[deleted]
Re: Aaron Swartz was prosecuted for scraping, while Meta does it without consequence
#49I don't think it matters much for the argument, which is valid (or not) regardless of whether you get the precise facts about the Swartz prosecution right, but Swartz was not facing 35 years. That's the statutory maximum sentence you'd get if you ignored the sentencing guidelines and grouped none of the charges, which is not how anything works. The prosecutors threatening Swartz and his attorneys claimed they'd pursu…
How many days have you spent in jail or prison? I've done two, and it was weird coming out to freedom. Actual thought taking some of my first steps: "wait, if I want to be over there, I can just start walking?" The guards and fellow jailers were all quite reasonable, too. I can barely imagine facing a whole year. I can't imagine facing five. If there is a point to be made from what you're talking about, it's about ho…
One of the reasons so many people believe Swartz faced 35 years in prison is that any attempt to correct the record is met by responses like this. Ironically, you're doing the work of the prosecutors for them: this is the whole reason they quote these outlandish and implausible sentencing possibilities in their press releases.
Re: Aaron Swartz was prosecuted for scraping, while Meta does it without consequence
#50The US has normalized so much moral rot and legal breaches in the past few years, all in the interest of making more money... Rarely does a country degrade so much, so fast, and I'm afraid this isn't even the low mark.
The real shame is that the next "best" countries are.. China? and the European countries pushing for age verification and sweeping surveillance and apparently bent on destroying the freedoms that made them better than China & Russia.. God can we have an alien invasion already please
>God can we have an alien invasion already please
I do not think we need that. With Climate Change a huge reckoning and leveling is coming. The way things look now, in 50 to 100 years there is a very good chance this civilization will probably come to an end.
As for Aaron, I hope the people who went after him can be sued for wrongful death. With meta doing the exact same thing, even to the same MIT Sites, I think a case exist.