The Darker Side of Aaron Swartz (2013)

Post by mcguire » Fri, Dec 31, 2021, 6:36 PM UTC

skinnymuch wrote: post #151

mcguire wrote: post #136

Earlier quoted context omitted.

" The prosecutor, Stephen Heymann, told Swartz’s lawyer, Elliot Peters, that if Swartz pleaded guilty to all counts he would spend six months in jail; if he lost at trial, it would be much worse. " The prosecutor made the offer of a 6-month plea deal to Swartz's lawyer. Who presumably discussed it with Swartz, who seems to have decided not to accept it. Possibly, if you accept the analysis above, on the advice of his…

The New Yorker doesn’t link to a citation. Rolling Stones does. Which links to a statement by lead prosecutor, Ortiz. Heymann was the assistant prosecutor. My point was how do we know this is an “analysis”. Based off Rolling Stones, this is just the prosecutors words.

Post by skinnymuch » Mon, Jan 03, 2022, 6:27 AM UTC

ModernMech wrote: post #158

skinnymuch wrote: post #155

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I get the sense that you are channeling a general distrust of the system into this specific case. You said this about the other commentator. I’m not sure how you aren’t doing a similar thing here. Prosecutors words are believed at face value. Phrasing Swartz as a high net worth individual as if it was known he was still a high net worth individual at the time of his passing. Since now you said you believe he spent…

> Prosecutors words are believed at face value. You've implied I'm taking the prosecutors words at face value, but I'm really not basing any of my opinions on the prosecutors words at all. The plea deal was communicated by Swartz' lawyer. The evidence against him is documentary and laid out in the indictment. There's expert testimony as well. Swartz' consciousness of guilt is laid out in video evidence as well as on…

Post by chaosharmonic » Mon, Jan 03, 2022, 2:34 PM UTC

tptacek wrote: post #120

chaosharmonic wrote: post #112

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Again, though: the 2 million dollar figure is highly implausible. Prosecutors could have argued for it (they can argue anything they want), but it's hard to see them getting it for a non-remunerative crime that involved publishing academic journal articles. Actually this ran in parallel with the tail end of the Jammie Thomas-Rasset lawsuit, in which the various damage figures thrown around for sharing two albums' w…

The story of the Thomas-Rasset suit --- a civil suit, not a 2B1.1(b) criminal sentence argument --- is basically about how those 7 figure sums don't hold up in actual court. And that suit was about material with clear commercial value, not 1942 editions of botany journals. I think this example supports my point, rather than challenging it.