Re: More info and opinions here on Aaron Swartz case
"valid" viewpoints? I note you cite the sacred Doctorow and holy Stamos as if they spoke God's Unalloyed Truth yet dismiss the prosecuting attorney as someone "with an agenda".
Yes there was an agenda. Cyber crime is a serious business in the US. You can hold that the law is an ass and you can work to change it, but if you break it you should expect to take some heat if you are caught. The prosecutor's job is to pursue that agenda with all dispatch and due diligence.
Before you scream and leap note that neither Doctorow nor Stamos are defending themselves in court for similar crimes. You might infer that they simply have not been caught, but I venture to suggest that while they hold strong views about the nature of Cyber crime, they also recognize that if you break the law and get caught the prosecutor is going to try and get you called to task for it, so they do not engage in such activity (actually I like to imagine that there is such a thing as a "moral compass" that guides people in their day-to-day activities, but so few here are demonstrating one - including the unfortunate Mr Schwartz - I am beginning to suspect I may be laboring under a delusion).
Perhaps one might further deduce that a more defensible course is to work to overturn or modify those laws with which one disagrees. In this case it is even simpler. All that was required was a policy change by the e-publisher, something that could probably have been achieved by a large enough petition, possibly one that included the names of those holding copyright on the materials in question.
Once again, the real issue here, that the individual who was known to be a tad flaky (even his own lawyer referred to him as "young" [for his age] in a radio interview two days ago) did not get the support, guidance and help he so obviously needed.
No, the fact that he was caught between a rock and a hard place didn't help his state of mind, but no-one in the prosecuting team twisted his arm and forced him to commit a crime known to be a particularly sensitive issue in the US if only because of the widespread reporting surrounding the recent "Aspberger Victim" cybercrime case.
Not every computer whizz-kid is automatically a victim of society for Azathoth's sake. Sometimes they are simply victims of their own hubris, and of cleaving too strongly to a culture that glorifies illegal activity.
Biting the hand that feeds IT
