Slashdot Mirror
US Attorney Chided Swartz On Day of Suicide
theodp writes "The e-mail that Defendant Swartz's supplemental memorandum (pdf) cites as paramount to his fifth motion to suppress [evidence against him] is relevant, but not nearly as important as he tries to make it out to be,' quipped United States Attorney Carmen M. Ortiz (pdf) in a court filing made on the same day Aaron Swartz committed suicide. In the 1-7-2011 e-mail Ortiz refers to, which was not produced for Swartz until Dec. 14th — almost two years after his 1-6-2011 arrest — a Secret Service agent reported to the Assistant U.S. Attorney that he was 'prepared to take custody anytime' of Swartz's laptop, although no one had yet sought a warrant to search the computer. In Prosecutor as Bully, Larry Lessig laments, 'They [JSTOR] declined to pursue their own action against Aaron, and they asked the government to drop its. MIT, to its great shame, was not as clear, and so the prosecutor had the excuse he needed to continue his war against the "criminal" who we who loved him knew as Aaron.' Swartz's family also had harsh words for MIT and prosecutors: 'Decisions made by officials in the Massachusetts U.S. Attorney's office and at MIT contributed to his death. The US Attorney's office pursued an exceptionally harsh array of charges, carrying potentially over 30 years in prison, to punish an alleged crime that had no victims. Meanwhile, unlike JSTOR, MIT refused to stand up for Aaron.' With MIT President Emeritus Charles M. Vest currently serving as a Trustee of JSTOR parent Ithaka as well as a Trustee of The MIT Corporation, one might have expected MIT to issue a statement similar to the let's-put-this-behind-us one JSTOR made on the Swartz case back in 2011."
Mentally disturbed individual who early on life exhibited a high degree of intelligence pushed the boundaries of the law, possibly(probably) breaking the law. Prosecutors assert that the law was indeed broken and were preparing to prosecute for said same transgressions.
Individual demonstrates a clear case of mental illness by committing suicide. Gay lover and family imply blame on everyone else but Swartz and mental illness. Slashdotters, with a disproportionately high number of homosexual members, typically desperate for conspiracy want to view it as unjust persecution against gays as well as government conspiracy.
Poorly written and nearly incoherent article, clearly written by overwrought and gay partisan of Swartz feeds Slashdot's appetite for rage against "injustice". This article likely just a precursor to several more that will elevate Swartz to cult hero status as a genius prodigy unjustly persecuted and finally killed by The Man.
Yes?
Uh, no. Strength of character. Asshole. When you're dead, you're gone. No more life, no more things you love. At least with life you have a *chance* at redemption.
Plenty of people go to prison without killing themselves. Prison rosters prove that.
Actually, plenty of people do kill themselves in prisons. Now fuck off.
Still trying to elevate Swartz to Turing i see. They are not comparable, as Swartz was never convicted or punished. Its fucking SHAMEFUL for you to draw this comparison. Turing towers above Swartz both in righteousness and depth of persecution he endured. Swartz endured nothing but the spectre of possibly being prosecuted.
Good-bye
I rode a bus for free in England once. A conductor came on and I had to buy a ticket.
They did not want to put me in jail for 30+ years.
3 things about computers: they're alive, they're self-aware, and they hate your guts.
selfish
Just about everything you can do is selfish. Something being selfish doesn't mean it's bad.
you are more than your own life
What?
But it goes both ways. Your family is selfish if they want you to live when you're suffering. This is similar to when someone in a relationship wants to have a child and the other person doesn't want to. The person wanting to have a child might claim the other person isn't fulfilling their needs and is selfish, but in reality, the other person has needs to, and it could be said that both are selfish.