That's a lot of hand-washing.
MIT releases report on its actions in the Aaron Swartz case
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Re: MIT releases report on its actions in the Aaron Swartz case
#12Interesting dropping this 2h before the PFC Manning verdict, and during the week of hacker conferences.
This is more coincidence than conspiracy. People look for patterns where they do not exist.
I'm not alleging conspiracy, just stupidity in handling bad PR on MIT's part -- if they'd dropped it in 4h, ~no one would read it (PFC Manning is 1000x bigger deal than aaronsw, not the least of which because PFC Manning is alive).
Re: MIT releases report on its actions in the Aaron Swartz case
#13Interesting dropping this 2h before the PFC Manning verdict, and during the week of hacker conferences.
This is more coincidence than conspiracy. People look for patterns where they do not exist.
It's relatively easy to delay the release of MIT's findings, even when they became aware late in the cycle.
Let's also remember that MIT has filed an objection to the Freedom of Information Act requests.
There's just too many coincidences to belittle it as "conspiracy theory".
Re: MIT releases report on its actions in the Aaron Swartz case
#14The problem with MIT's neutral stance is highlighted in the report and the one which I find particularly interesting. However, the report says that MIT’s neutrality stance did not consider factors including “that the defendant was an accomplished and well-known contributor to Internet technology”; that the law under which he was charged “is a poorly drafted and questionable criminal law as applied to modern computing…
Well, that kind of stuff is all over the report. We note that no one from MIT called the Secret Service. The MIT Police contacted the Cambridge detective by calling him on his individual cell phone. The special agent became involved because he accompanied the Cambridge detective. Things just magically fall together. The MITs neutrality apparently extends so far that they don't even bother with what kind of police for…
> The MITs neutrality apparently extends so far that they
> don't even bother with what kind of police forces are
> strolling around on campus.
Inter-agency task forces have become common in American law enforcement since 9/11. Many people have multiple affiliations. For example, I have a friend that is part of the New England Electronic Crimes Task Force. He's a Secret Service agent and does Secret Service details. But, he's a Boston police officer, works out of the Boston police headquarters, and overall is the exact same as any other Boston cop except where the funding line that allows Boston PD to cover his pay check comes from.
Re: MIT releases report on its actions in the Aaron Swartz case
#15This report is necessarily missing important information: MIT is still intervening in a Wired reporter's FOIA request. You don't bother to block an information release unless something important would be released; that doesn't pass the smell test.
Here's a statement from Swartz's partner: http://tarensk.tumblr.com/post/56881327662/mit-report-is-a-w...
Re: MIT releases report on its actions in the Aaron Swartz case
#16So why are they trying to stop the FOIA request if they did nothing wrong, as they claim?
Re: MIT releases report on its actions in the Aaron Swartz case
#17Interesting dropping this 2h before the PFC Manning verdict, and during the week of hacker conferences.
This is more coincidence than conspiracy. People look for patterns where they do not exist.
It may be coincidence, but it would be naive to think that there is no sophistication or planning in the public relations of a large organization.
Re: MIT releases report on its actions in the Aaron Swartz case
#18[deleted]
Re: MIT releases report on its actions in the Aaron Swartz case
#19Earlier quoted context omitted.
Well, that kind of stuff is all over the report. We note that no one from MIT called the Secret Service. The MIT Police contacted the Cambridge detective by calling him on his individual cell phone. The special agent became involved because he accompanied the Cambridge detective. Things just magically fall together. The MITs neutrality apparently extends so far that they don't even bother with what kind of police for…
> The MITs neutrality apparently extends so far that they > don't even bother with what kind of police forces are > strolling around on campus. Inter-agency task forces have become common in American law enforcement since 9/11. Many people have multiple affiliations. For example, I have a friend that is part of the New England Electronic Crimes Task Force. He's a Secret Service agent and does Secret Service details.…
It's true that there are all sorts of interagency entanglements, but MIT doesn't have to participate in them if they don't want to. They could take a more cautious approach to which police end up on campus, at least for the parts of the campus that count as private property (excluding public roads going through the campus, for example). Unless in "hot pursuit" of a suspect or with a warrant, the only police that can enter MIT property are those that MIT gives permission to.
Re: MIT releases report on its actions in the Aaron Swartz case
#20I did not follow this case when it broke, so do guys know what Aaron planned on doing with all that JSTOR material he was downloading? (~80% of JSTOR, according to one article I read)