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A comment on Losing Aaron: Bob Swartz on MIT's role in his son's death. Parent comment

Re:Losing Aaron: Bob Swartz on MIT's role in his son's death by betterunix on Thursday January 02, 2014 @10:11PM (#7003923)
MIT did not on its own "cause" Aaron to commit suicide, but MIT certainly did play a role in the events that led up to the suicide. Perhaps MIT had no reason to defend Aaron, but what reason did they have to help the prosecution -- why did MIT turn over information without being subpoenaed for it? MIT deserves its share of the blame.
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Re:Losing Aaron: Bob Swartz on MIT's role in his son's death by pdonis on Thursday January 02, 2014 @11:57PM (#7004232)
why did MIT turn over information without being subpoenaed for it?

Because they didn't know what was going on and needed help to figure it out. It's all laid out in the Abelson report.

If you're looking for a key juncture at which MIT made a mistake, I would ask why they didn't make a statement similar to the one JSTOR made after the civil settlement: basically saying "we're satisfied that this is resolved and don't have any interest in further legal actions being taken". (I'm not sure this would actually have stopped the prosecutors, since they seemed bound and determined to "get" Swartz no matter what, but at least it would have been something.)

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Re:Losing Aaron: Bob Swartz on MIT's role in his son's death by ericcumbee on Thursday January 02, 2014 @10:17PM (#7003944)
if someone broke into my Network Closet, I would not need a subpoena.
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Re:Losing Aaron: Bob Swartz on MIT's role in his son's death by sampo on Thursday January 02, 2014 @10:44PM (#7004026)
The closet was not locked, so there was no need to break into it.

This is common knowledge about the case, also found in Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aaron_Swartz#JSTOR

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Re:Losing Aaron: Bob Swartz on MIT's role in his son's death by ericcumbee on Thursday January 02, 2014 @10:57PM (#7004064)
>Opening a closed door or window is a >breaking, even if they are unlocked.

http://www.mass.gov/courts/courtsandjudges/courts/districtco...

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Re:Losing Aaron: Bob Swartz on MIT's role in his son's death by mpyne on Thursday January 02, 2014 @11:15PM (#7004127)
So is it your position that trespassing on other's property is now OK if they forget to lock the door?
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Re:Losing Aaron: Bob Swartz on MIT's role in his son's death by Zigurd on Thursday January 02, 2014 @11:56PM (#7004227)
Trespassing is the whole substantial crime in this case, and it should have ended with an arrest by the Cambridge PD and a fine.
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Re:Losing Aaron: Bob Swartz on MIT's role in his son's death by mpyne on Friday January 03, 2014 @01:30AM (#7004438)
You may have left out the part where Aaron was on the MIT subnet despite being kicked off repeatedly... I don't agree with felony charges but nor was this an instance of mere physical trespassing.
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Re:Losing Aaron: Bob Swartz on MIT's role in his son's death by GigabyteCoin on Friday January 03, 2014 @12:13AM (#7004275)
Sampo is just stating the facts as far as I can tell.
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Re:Losing Aaron: Bob Swartz on MIT's role in his son's death by betterunix on Thursday January 02, 2014 @10:28PM (#7003976)
OK, then you would receive your share of the blame if that person killed themselves after being hounded by the prosecutors you aided.
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Re:Losing Aaron: Bob Swartz on MIT's role in his son's death by res0nat0r on Thursday January 02, 2014 @10:32PM (#7003987)
So the US should stop prosecuting crimes if there is a worry that person might be mentally unstable?
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Re:Losing Aaron: Bob Swartz on MIT's role in his son's death by betterunix on Thursday January 02, 2014 @10:46PM (#7004029)
No, but the US absolutely should stop using plea-bargaining as a way to bully people into not going to trial, and then retaliating against people who dare to exercise their right to a trial by adding additional charges against them after plea bargaining. While we are at it, we should reign in the cost of actually exercising the right to a trial -- Aaron lost his fortune defending himself from the government, which is more than most Americans could hope to do.

See, the problem here is that we are talking about giving aid to overly aggressive prosecutors, whose entire careers are devoted to undermining civil rights and destroying their targets. If that is the sort of prosecution you are aiding, yes, you should share in the blame for what happens to the prosecutor's victims.

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Re:Losing Aaron: Bob Swartz on MIT's role in his son's death by baddox on Friday January 03, 2014 @12:43AM (#7004346)
I think it is fairly uncontroversial to say that the US criminal justice system is a joke. Very few cases go to court (and thus juries) because of the huge amount of power lea bargaining gives to the state.
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Re:Losing Aaron: Bob Swartz on MIT's role in his son's death by dllthomas on Thursday January 02, 2014 @10:34PM (#7003989)
If you are the aggrieved party, and the punishment the law is meting out is ridiculously out of proportion to the harm done to you, you have some responsibility to speak up.
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Re:Losing Aaron: Bob Swartz on MIT's role in his son's death by Karunamon on Friday January 03, 2014 @12:17AM (#7004285)
We already factor mental stability into both sentencing and convictions.
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Re:Losing Aaron: Bob Swartz on MIT's role in his son's death by DanBC on Friday January 03, 2014 @02:11AM (#7004517)
I find that hard to believe. Many prison systems are now the largest providers of mental health services in their various states because so many people with mental illness are imprisoned.
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