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US Attorney General Defends Handling of Aaron Swartz Case
TrueSatan writes in with the latest in the ongoing Aaron Swartz tragedy. "Attorney General Eric Holder on Wednesday said the suicide death of internet activist Aaron Swartz was a 'tragedy,' but the hacking case against the 26-year-old was 'a good use of prosecutorial discretion.' The attorney general was testifying at a Justice Department oversight hearing before the Senate Judiciary committee and was facing terse questioning from Sen. John Cornyn (D-Texas). ...Holder stated: 'I think that's a good use of prosecutorial discretion to look at the conduct, regardless of what the statutory maximums were and to fashion a sentence that was consistent with what the nature of the conduct was. And I think what those prosecutors did in offering 3, 4, zero to 6 was consistent with that conduct.' Notwithstanding Holder's testimony, Massachusetts federal prosecutors twice indicted Swartz for the alleged hacking, once in 2011 on four felonies and again last year on 13 felonies. The case included hacking charges under the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act that was passed in 1984 to enhance the government's ability to prosecute hackers who accessed computers to steal information or to disrupt or destroy computer functionality."
What about grand theft larceny? By plugging in his computer into their network, it became more than a mere trespass. At the going rate, the documents he was downloading would likely have qualified under that consideration.
But, by your argument, if I broken into a woman's bedroom, whipped out my equipment and plugged it in, it'd be mere trespass, not rape. Besides, it didn't cost her anything to give it up.
What's the difference? Because it was electronic? Because it was to access information *you* believe should be free? What if I told you I thought that woman's vagina ought to be free? Does that then make it right? Because I thought it to be so? What if I can get tens of thousands online to agree with me, does that then justify it? What if I substitute wallet for vagina/network? For what substitutions is this now right? And for which is it wrong?
Swartz was caught accessing something that did not legally belong to him, and he was being made held accountable for his actions.