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OK, then you would receive your share of the blame if that person killed themselves after being hounded by the prosecutors you aided.
So the US should stop prosecuting crimes if there is a worry that person might be mentally unstable?
What would be a less strict university in USA, more libertarian, less police state if you would?
Aaron was facing a cumulative maximum penalty of 35 years in prison.
The roommates of one of the Boston bombers was only facing 25 years in prison[1] if found guilty of helping Dzhokhar Tsarnaev dispose of a laptop, fireworks, and a backpack in the aftermath of the bombings.
I understand it's not a straight comparison, but no matter how I try to re-arrange those numbers in my head, I can't reconcile the impact to punishment.
[1]: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boston_Marathon_bombings#Dias_K...
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Well, they certainly did not help to prevent the ridiculous prosecution being made
I am curious, what was wrong with the criminal charges against Swartz? Can someone clarify how the prosecutor handled things wrong?
Basically, this case embodied almost everything that is wrong with the criminal justice system in America.
What would be a less strict university in USA, more libertarian, less police state if you would?
What's more libertarian than calling the police when someone misuses and infringes on your property?
In libertopia... Aaron would only face life in prison if he entered into a contract with MIT agreeing to life in prison for accessing the systems in the way he did.
In libertopia... you cannot consent to terms you cannot negotiate (IE accessing a website does not magically enter you into some agreement).
Suicide is completely a personal choice. MIT had no reason to try and defend an outsider who hijacked part of their network, and trying to make them seem like they caused him to hang himself smacks of tunnel vision. It's a natural response to a suicide; we try and search for something to blame. But unless you argue that MIT should have known Aaron was mentally unstable, saying MIT "caused" him to kill himself is illo…
Oh, poor MIT, all they did was actively help the guy who wanted Aaron thrown in prison for three and half decades* while pretending to be neutral. Any of us might have done the same, right? Totally innocent! Like "a rape victim," to use Heymann's own words. If you punch a stranger in the face, you probably don't expect him to fall, crack his head on the corner of a table, and die; but you don't get to claim you're bl…
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MIT did not on its own "cause" Aaron to commit suicide, but MIT certainly did play a role in the events that led up to the suicide. Perhaps MIT had no reason to defend Aaron, but what reason did they have to help the prosecution -- why did MIT turn over information without being subpoenaed for it? MIT deserves its share of the blame.
if someone broke into my Network Closet, I would not need a subpoena.
This is common knowledge about the case, also found in Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aaron_Swartz#JSTOR
Earlier quoted context omitted.
OK, then you would receive your share of the blame if that person killed themselves after being hounded by the prosecutors you aided.
So the US should stop prosecuting crimes if there is a worry that person might be mentally unstable?
See, the problem here is that we are talking about giving aid to overly aggressive prosecutors, whose entire careers are devoted to undermining civil rights and destroying their targets. If that is the sort of prosecution you are aiding, yes, you should share in the blame for what happens to the prosecutor's victims.
Suicide is completely a personal choice. MIT had no reason to try and defend an outsider who hijacked part of their network, and trying to make them seem like they caused him to hang himself smacks of tunnel vision. It's a natural response to a suicide; we try and search for something to blame. But unless you argue that MIT should have known Aaron was mentally unstable, saying MIT "caused" him to kill himself is illo…
I'm still more disturbed by the laws in play. Aaron was facing a cumulative maximum penalty of 35 years in prison. The roommates of one of the Boston bombers was only facing 25 years in prison[1] if found guilty of helping Dzhokhar Tsarnaev dispose of a laptop, fireworks, and a backpack in the aftermath of the bombings. I understand it's not a straight comparison, but no matter how I try to re-arrange those numbers i…
Obviously Aaron was doing something far more dangerous and destructive to our country than aiding a terrorist.