It has everything to do with the story because it shows that most copyright claims are done in absolute bad faith and consumers are given no real tools to defend themselves.

Right now for the majority of people who get a DMCA, there is nothing they can do. There is no functional appeals process, there is no office in charge of handling bad DMCAs. Shy of actually going to court with a lawyer and attempting a suit, if a company files a bogus DMCA then you are boned.

That is an abortion of free speech and property rights, and the Swartz case is a perfect example of that. Most of the papers Swartz obtained were supposed to belong to the public, and yet he was sued into oblivion for DOING NOTHING ILLEGAL. He had no counterclaim short of going to full court with lawyers, something entirely out of his grasp and reach, and because he felt he had no alternatives to having his life ruined, he committed suicide.

It's not a farcical tragedy, it's a flipping shame for the human race.

edit - language

Whatever else we might disagree on, let's be clear that I agree with you about Swartz.

Without defending AT&T:

Schwartz was prosecuted by a US Attorney. If anything he is a poster boy of over reach of government.

Government officials seemingly beholden to corporations.

The corporation in question (JSTOR, a nonprofit) indicated their desire to drop the case several months before Aaron's suicide.

At has at least 2 things to do: it involves copyrights, and it shows that copyright enforcement (and strict at that) is not just about "the latest hits" (like with movie/music piracy for example).