Re:Prosecutors' deal for Swartz: Felony plea and three month...
by jacquesm on Tuesday February 26, 2013 @02:48PM
(#5287985)
Thank you.
I think one of the problems here is that the 'decades in prison' thing is actually used at all, especially by the prosecutors.
If there is no chance of 'decades in prison' then it shouldn't be used in the first place. Such bluffing and posturing leads to all kinds of trouble and I can't see anything good coming from it.
The other part - the civil / felonies - bit I think is slightly more nuanced. Big time commercial piracy versus most others kinds, where the felonies should obviously be handed out to big time commercial pirates. This may be hard to put together in a way that holds water legally, but that opens the door to overreach.
What I've gleaned from the Aaron Swartz case so far is that the actual thing Aaron tried to do (the downloading) turned out to be non-punishable because of the JSTOR reversal, so instead, a lot of hay is being made over something that is actually peripheral to the whole case.
It's like someone with driving with their lights off being charged with a whole slew of offenses because they can't be charged for breaking and entering. Going for the absolute maximum penalty that you can attach in every contrived way possible to driving with your lights off.
I think one of the problems here is that the 'decades in prison' thing is actually used at all, especially by the prosecutors.
If there is no chance of 'decades in prison' then it shouldn't be used in the first place. Such bluffing and posturing leads to all kinds of trouble and I can't see anything good coming from it.
The other part - the civil / felonies - bit I think is slightly more nuanced. Big time commercial piracy versus most others kinds, where the felonies should obviously be handed out to big time commercial pirates. This may be hard to put together in a way that holds water legally, but that opens the door to overreach.
What I've gleaned from the Aaron Swartz case so far is that the actual thing Aaron tried to do (the downloading) turned out to be non-punishable because of the JSTOR reversal, so instead, a lot of hay is being made over something that is actually peripheral to the whole case.
It's like someone with driving with their lights off being charged with a whole slew of offenses because they can't be charged for breaking and entering. Going for the absolute maximum penalty that you can attach in every contrived way possible to driving with your lights off.
This comes across as quite surreal and unjust.