Re:MIT releases report on its actions in the Aaron Swartz case
by chaostheory on Tuesday July 30, 2013 @04:38PM
(#6129867)
"Andy Good, Swartz’s initial lawyer, is alternately sad and furious.
'The thing that galls me is that I told Heymann the kid was a suicide risk,' Good told me. 'His reaction was a standard reaction in that office, not unique to Steve. He said, ‘Fine, we’ll lock him up.’ I’m not saying they made Aaron kill himself. Aaron might have done this anyway. I’m saying they were aware of the risk, and they were heedless.'"
"Marty Weinberg, who took the case over from Good, said he nearly negotiated a plea bargain in which Swartz would not serve any time. He said JSTOR signed off on it, but MIT would not.
'There were subsets of the MIT community who were profoundly in support of Aaron,' Weinberg said. That support did not override institutional interests."
Re:MIT releases report on its actions in the Aaron Swartz case
by res0nat0r on Tuesday July 30, 2013 @08:16PM
(#6131026)
Dropping charges because someone is at risk of hurting themselves is not a good policy law enforcement policy. The charges could proceed as normal, but extended supervision should be the proper response.
Re:MIT releases report on its actions in the Aaron Swartz case
by chaostheory on Tuesday July 30, 2013 @10:22PM
(#6131520)
In this case, you're talking about the enforcement of keeping publicly funded research out of the public's hands. Was any of this necessary?
Also there are thousands of people every year sentenced to possibly long term jail time who don't kill themselves, therefore I put the blame more on Aaron himself than MIT.