Just in case you missed this, a 24-year-old programmer at MIT is facing 35 years of prison for illegally downloading a large number of papers from JSTOR. In a statement bordering on ridiculous, JSTOR confirmed that it had "secured the digital content" Mr. Swartz allegedly stole.
Hopefully this will give people a sense of how bad things are in 2011 regarding access to publicly funded research. I am really happy that we are putting open access and open data among our priorities at WMF and doing our bit to help fix this broken system.
Dario
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Internet Activist Charged in M.I.T. Data Theft http://bits.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/07/19/reddit-co-founder-charged-with-data...
2:19 p.m. | Updated Added links to documents and comment from United States Attorney’s office in Boston.
2:48 p.m. | Updated Changed headline and post to remove reference to Mr. Swartz being a co-founder of Reddit, as this is disputed. Added comment from Demand Progress.
4:11 p.m. | Updated Corrected reference to timing of indictment.
Aaron Swartz, a 24-year-old programmer and online political activist, has been indicted in Boston on charges that he stole more than four million documents from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and JSTOR, an archive of scientific journals and academic papers. (Read the full indictment below.)
Mr. Swartz was indicted last Thursday by the United States Attorney for the District of Massachusetts, Carmen M. Ortiz, and the indictment was unsealed Tuesday. The charges could result in up to 35 years in prison and a $1 million fine.
In a press release, Ms. Ortiz’s office said that Mr. Swartz broke into a restricted area of M.I.T. and entered a computer wiring closet. Mr. Swartz apparently then accessed the M.I.T. computer network and took millions of documents from JSTOR.
Mr. Swartz, a well-known figure in Internet academic circles, created a site called Infogami that later merged with the social news site Reddit. He is also a founder and director of the nonprofit group Demand Progress, which calls itself a political action group hoping to change public policy that relates to the Internet.
In 2009 Mr. Swartz downloaded 19 million pages of federal court documents from a government database system, acting on the belief that they should be made available free.
Demand Progress said on its site that it appeared Mr. Swartz was “being charged with allegedly downloading too many scholarly journal articles from the Web.” It quoted the group’s executive director, David Segal, as saying, “It’s like trying to put someone in jail for allegedly checking too many books out of the library.”
The charges filed against Mr. Swartz include wire fraud, computer fraud, obtaining information from a protected computer and criminal forfeiture.
“Stealing is stealing whether you use a computer command or a crowbar, and whether you take documents, data or dollars,” said Ms. Ortiz in the press release.
The United States Attorney’s office in Boston said Mr. Swartz “surrendered today, was arraigned in U.S. District Court in Boston this morning and pled not guilty to all counts. He was released on $100,000 unsecured bond. His next court date is September 9, 2011 for a status conference.”
Mr. Swartz could not immediately be reached for comment.
Hi! I agree. I would add that if you feel like please sign the petition of support for Aaron (see below). A part of worrying for him, to me the act of pushing in the direction of imposing respect for the norms though exemplifying punishments is a sign of weakness (referring to the crisis of legitimacy of the Academic Publicizing system, which each time is more distanced from academic needs and practices). Plus, it could have a "boomerang" effect, raising even further criticism. It seems next years there will be the occasion to see possibilities for changes! (and Wikipedia could play a role in that process) Mayo
//// Aaron Swartz charged for downloading too many journal articles from the Library ////
Shocking news: Moments ago former Demand Progress Executive Director Aaron Swartz was indicted by the US government. As best as we can tell, he is being charged with allegedly downloading too many journal articles from the Web. The government contends that downloading so many journal articles constitutes felony computer hacking and should be punished with time in prison. We disagree.
Will you click here to sign our petition of support for Aaron? http://act.demandprogress.org/sign/support_aaron
The charges are made all the more senseless by the fact that the alleged victim has settled any claims against Aaron, explained they've suffered no loss or damage, and asked the government not to prosecute.
James Jacobs, the Government Documents Librarian at Stanford University -- where Aaron did undergraduate work -- denounced the arrest: "Aaron's prosecution undermines academic inquiry and democratic principles," Jacobs said. "It's incredible that the government would try to lock someone up for allegedly looking up articles at a library."
Will you click here to show your support for Aaron? http://act.demandprogress.org/sign/support_aaron
Thanks for your support and concern as we help see Aaron through these tough times. We'll keep you updated.
-- The Demand Progress team
P.S. Please considering forwarding this email to your friends or using the links below to alert them to Aaron's predicament.
«·´`·.(*·.¸(`·.¸ ¸.·´)¸.·*).·´`·» «·´¨*·¸¸« Mayo Fuster Morell ».¸.·*¨`·» «·´`·.(¸.·´(¸.·* *·.¸)`·.¸).·´`·»
Research Digital Commons Governance: http://www.onlinecreation.info
Ph.D European University Institute Postdoctoral Researcher. Institute of Govern and Public Policies. Autonomous University of Barcelona. Visiting scholar. Internet Interdisciplinary Institute. Open University of Catalonia (UOC). Visiting researcher (2008). School of information. University of California, Berkeley. Member Research Committee. Wikimedia Foundation
http://www.onlinecreation.info E-mail: mayo.fuster@eui.eu Skype: mayoneti Phone Spanish State: 0034-648877748
«·´`·.(*·.¸(`·.¸ ¸.·´)¸.·*).·´`·» «·´¨*·¸¸« Mayo Fuster Morell ».¸.·*¨`·» «·´`·.(¸.·´(¸.·* *·.¸)`·.¸).·´`·»
Research Digital Commons Governance: http://www.onlinecreation.info
Ph.D European University Institute Postdoctoral Researcher. Institute of Govern and Public Policies. Autonomous University of Barcelona. Visiting scholar. Internet Interdisciplinary Institute. Open University of Catalonia (UOC). Visiting researcher (2008). School of information. University of California, Berkeley. Member Research Committee. Wikimedia Foundation
http://www.onlinecreation.info E-mail: mayo.fuster@eui.eu Skype: mayoneti Phone Spanish State: 0034-648877748 ________________________________________ From: rcom-l-bounces@lists.wikimedia.org [rcom-l-bounces@lists.wikimedia.org] On Behalf Of Dario Taraborelli [dtaraborelli@wikimedia.org] Sent: 20 July 2011 16:58 To: The Wikimedia Foundation Research Committee mailing list Cc: wsor@lists.wikimedia.org Subject: [RCom-l] Aaron Swartz
Just in case you missed this, a 24-year-old programmer at MIT is facing 35 years of prison for illegally downloading a large number of papers from JSTOR. In a statement bordering on ridiculous, JSTOR confirmed that it had "secured the digital content" Mr. Swartz allegedly stole.
Hopefully this will give people a sense of how bad things are in 2011 regarding access to publicly funded research. I am really happy that we are putting open access and open data among our priorities at WMF and doing our bit to help fix this broken system.
Dario
----
Internet Activist Charged in M.I.T. Data Theft http://bits.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/07/19/reddit-co-founder-charged-with-data...
2:19 p.m. | Updated Added links to documents and comment from United States Attorney’s office in Boston.
2:48 p.m. | Updated Changed headline and post to remove reference to Mr. Swartz being a co-founder of Reddit, as this is disputed. Added comment from Demand Progress.
4:11 p.m. | Updated Corrected reference to timing of indictment.
Aaron Swartz, a 24-year-old programmer and online political activist, has been indicted in Boston on charges that he stole more than four million documents from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and JSTOR, an archive of scientific journals and academic papers. (Read the full indictment below.)
Mr. Swartz was indicted last Thursday by the United States Attorney for the District of Massachusetts, Carmen M. Ortiz, and the indictment was unsealed Tuesday. The charges could result in up to 35 years in prison and a $1 million fine.
In a press release, Ms. Ortiz’s office said that Mr. Swartz broke into a restricted area of M.I.T. and entered a computer wiring closet. Mr. Swartz apparently then accessed the M.I.T. computer network and took millions of documents from JSTOR.
Mr. Swartz, a well-known figure in Internet academic circles, created a site called Infogami that later merged with the social news site Reddit. He is also a founder and director of the nonprofit group Demand Progress, which calls itself a political action group hoping to change public policy that relates to the Internet.
In 2009 Mr. Swartz downloaded 19 million pages of federal court documents from a government database system, acting on the belief that they should be made available free.
Demand Progress said on its site that it appeared Mr. Swartz was “being charged with allegedly downloading too many scholarly journal articles from the Web.” It quoted the group’s executive director, David Segal, as saying, “It’s like trying to put someone in jail for allegedly checking too many books out of the library.”
The charges filed against Mr. Swartz include wire fraud, computer fraud, obtaining information from a protected computer and criminal forfeiture.
“Stealing is stealing whether you use a computer command or a crowbar, and whether you take documents, data or dollars,” said Ms. Ortiz in the press release.
The United States Attorney’s office in Boston said Mr. Swartz “surrendered today, was arraigned in U.S. District Court in Boston this morning and pled not guilty to all counts. He was released on $100,000 unsecured bond. His next court date is September 9, 2011 for a status conference.”
Mr. Swartz could not immediately be reached for comment.
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