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Aaron Swartz Prosecution Team Claims Online Harassment
twoheadedboy writes "Members of the legal team responsible for prosecution of Aaron Swartz have claimed they received threatening letters and emails, and some had their social network accounts hacked, following the suicide of the Internet freedom activist. Following Swartz's death, his family and friends widely lambasted the prosecution team, who were accused of being heavy-handed in their pursuit of the 26-year-old. He was facing trial for alleged copyright infringement, accused of downloading excessive amounts of material from the academic article resource JSTOR. U.S. attorney for Massachusetts Carmen Ortiz, who headed up the prosecution, and another lead prosecutor, Stephen Heymann, have reportedly become the target of 'harassing and threatening messages,' and their personal information, including home address, personal telephone number, and the names of family members and friends, was posted online. Heymann also received a postcard with a picture of his father's head in a guillotine."
The "35 year" charge is a complete lie, nothing more than FUD spread by the Aaron Swartz defense brigade.
Swartz was guilty as charged, he was a repeat offender that did not give a damn about the consequences.
I agree. I hear he was "smart". Apparently that did not extend to common sense.
If you intend to be a real activist, understand that it means that you can and likely will go to jail for civil disobedience. If you're not ready for that, then write checks to people who are ready for that.
Stop repeating that lie. Swartz never was faced 35 years in prison.
Swartz broke into a private computer network in order to commit copyright violation on a massive scale; that's a felony pretty much everywhere else in the world. Furthermore, Congress intended his conduct to be a felony. Why do you think he should not have been convicted of a felony?
But the judge would have been bound by federal sentencing guidelines, which would have limited the sentence to around 6-12 months no matter what.
When you are commit a crime you forfeit some of your constitutional rights.
Swartz was going to face punishment either way because he commit a crime. None of his rights were trampled on.
They offered him six months in a minimum security prison camp. He didn't have the moral convictions to back up his actions and took the coward's way out instead.
General mental brokenness isn't a reason not to overlook criminal actions.