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White House rejects petitions to fire prosecutors who drove FOI activist Aaron Swartz to suicide.
White House rejects petitions to fire prosecutors who drove Internet activist Aaron Swartz to suicide
By Nick Barrickman
World Socialist Web Site, 12 January 2015
The Obama administration formally rejected on Wednesday a pair of petitions to fire the prosecutors whose vindictive pursuit of Internet pioneer and activist Aaron Swartz drove him to suicide in 2013.
The petitions had called for the firings of US Attorney for Massachusetts Carmen Ortiz and Assistant US Attorney Stephen Heymann, who had overseen the malicious prosecution against the open Internet activist, charging him in 2011 with numerous felony counts under the 1986 Computer Fraud and Abuse Act (CFAA) for downloading copies of academic journal articles through the digital library JSTOR.
Swartz, who had warned that “The world’s entire scientific ... heritage ... is increasingly being digitized and locked up by a handful of private corporations,” had sought to make the journal articles publicly available.
At the time, Ortiz had sought to equate Swartz with a common thief, declaring that “stealing is stealing whether you use a computer command or a crowbar,” insinuating that the well-known advocate for Internet freedom was attempting to personally profit from the web site’s scholarly material.
SNIP...
In 2013, US Attorney General Eric Holder called the prosecution of Swartz “a good use of prosecutorial discretion.”
The tragic death of Swartz, an esteemed activist and web technology innovator, prompted a wave of popular outrage against the US government and the draconian measures it went to in order to make an example of him. The petitions, which had long ago received the required 25,000 signatures meriting a response from the White House, had called for both Ortiz’s and Heymann’s removal for their roles in instigating Swartz’s suicide.
CONTINUED...
http://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2015/01/12/swar-j12.html
Swartz' supposed crime was downloading free articles. From what I can tell, his real crime was in pointing out that hiding information from the people who own it is un-Democratic and un-American.
108 replies
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= new reply since forum marked as read
over anything else?
I wonder why!? Keep hammering these guys back into irrelevancy...they seem to whittle down every year from embarrassment or...gosh...getting banned?
Their scorn is so hard to hide for them now, you just keep on with the truth and laugh off their bullshit tactics. So 5th grade. I do however love watching them grind their teeth in total frustration.
That's a BIG difference between us.
You do.
Another BIG difference.
And anyone who can read can see I never said BBI posted something anti-Semitic.
"So what" FWWM was banned.
Well, Octafish of DU, the "so what" is he was banned for being an anti-Semite, yet you call him a "great DUer".
Why is that....I wonder....sure is interesting.
Could you be any more reflexively incurious and authoritarian? 
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Embedded links (all reposts) at originals only.
http://unhandled.com/2013/01/12/the-truth-about-aaron-swartzs-crime/
The Truth about Aaron Swartz’s “Crime”
I did not know Aaron Swartz, unless you count having copies of a person’s entire digital life on your forensics server as knowing him. I did once meet his father, an intelligent and dedicated man who was clearly pouring his life into defending his son. My deepest condolences go out to him and the rest of Aaron’s family during what must be the hardest time of their lives.
If the good that men do is oft interred with their bones, so be it, but in the meantime I feel a responsibility to correct some of the erroneous information being posted as comments to otherwise informative discussions at Reddit, Hacker News and Boing Boing. Apparently some people feel the need to self-aggrandize by opining on the guilt of the recently departed, and I wanted to take this chance to speak on behalf of a man who can no longer defend himself. I had hoped to ask Aaron to discuss these issues on the Defcon stage once he was acquitted, but now that he has passed it is important that his memory not be besmirched by the ignorant and uninformed. I have confirmed with Aaron’s attorneys that I am free to discuss these issues now that the criminal case is moot.
I was the expert witness on Aaron’s side of US vs Swartz, engaged by his attorneys last year to help prepare a defense for his April trial. Until Keker Van Nest called iSEC Partners I had very little knowledge of Aaron’s plight, and although we have spoken at or attended many of the same events we had never once met.
Should you doubt my neutrality, let me establish my bona fides. I have led the investigation of dozens of computer crimes, from Latvian hackers blackmailing a stock brokerage to Chinese government-backed attacks against dozens of American enterprises. I have investigated small insider violations of corporate policy to the theft of hundreds of thousands of dollars, and have responded to break-ins at social networks, e-tailers and large banks. While we are no stranger to pro bono work, having served as experts on EFF vs Sony BMG and Sony vs Hotz, our reports have also been used in the prosecution of at least a half dozen attackers. In short, I am no long-haired-hippy-anarchist who believes that anything goes on the Internet. I am much closer to the stereotypical capitalist-white-hat sellout that the antisec people like to rant about (and steal mail spools from) in the weeks before BlackHat.
I know a criminal hack when I see it, and Aaron’s downloading of journal articles from an unlocked closet is not an offense worth 35 years in jail.
<>
The Truth about Aaron Swartz’s “Crime”
I did not know Aaron Swartz, unless you count having copies of a person’s entire digital life on your forensics server as knowing him. I did once meet his father, an intelligent and dedicated man who was clearly pouring his life into defending his son. My deepest condolences go out to him and the rest of Aaron’s family during what must be the hardest time of their lives.
If the good that men do is oft interred with their bones, so be it, but in the meantime I feel a responsibility to correct some of the erroneous information being posted as comments to otherwise informative discussions at Reddit, Hacker News and Boing Boing. Apparently some people feel the need to self-aggrandize by opining on the guilt of the recently departed, and I wanted to take this chance to speak on behalf of a man who can no longer defend himself. I had hoped to ask Aaron to discuss these issues on the Defcon stage once he was acquitted, but now that he has passed it is important that his memory not be besmirched by the ignorant and uninformed. I have confirmed with Aaron’s attorneys that I am free to discuss these issues now that the criminal case is moot.
I was the expert witness on Aaron’s side of US vs Swartz, engaged by his attorneys last year to help prepare a defense for his April trial. Until Keker Van Nest called iSEC Partners I had very little knowledge of Aaron’s plight, and although we have spoken at or attended many of the same events we had never once met.
Should you doubt my neutrality, let me establish my bona fides. I have led the investigation of dozens of computer crimes, from Latvian hackers blackmailing a stock brokerage to Chinese government-backed attacks against dozens of American enterprises. I have investigated small insider violations of corporate policy to the theft of hundreds of thousands of dollars, and have responded to break-ins at social networks, e-tailers and large banks. While we are no stranger to pro bono work, having served as experts on EFF vs Sony BMG and Sony vs Hotz, our reports have also been used in the prosecution of at least a half dozen attackers. In short, I am no long-haired-hippy-anarchist who believes that anything goes on the Internet. I am much closer to the stereotypical capitalist-white-hat sellout that the antisec people like to rant about (and steal mail spools from) in the weeks before BlackHat.
I know a criminal hack when I see it, and Aaron’s downloading of journal articles from an unlocked closet is not an offense worth 35 years in jail.
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http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Progressive_Change_Campaign_Committee
The Progressive Change Campaign Committee (PCCC) is a U.S. political action committee which focuses on building progressive power. This includes electing progressive Democrats to the Senate and House of Representatives and advocating for progressive policy responses to national and local political issues.(2)(3)(4)
The PCCC was founded in 2009 by Adam Green, Stephanie Taylor, and Aaron Swartz. Michael Snook and Forrest Brown have worked with the organization since its founding year. The PCCC claims to have almost one million members.(5)
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Elizabeth Warren[edit]
In July 2011, the PCCC launched the grassroots effort to draft Elizabeth Warren to run for Senate in Massachusetts. Over 60,000 members joined the draft as potential volunteers or donors. The group organized several Draft Elizabeth Warren house parties across Massachusetts.(11) Supporters met to discuss the best way to support her candidacy and campaign were she to announce that she was going to run. In September 2011, after the demonstration of grassroots support, Warren announced she would run in 2012 against Republican Scott Brown.(12) The campaign to draft Warren was declared “The Most Valuable Campaign of 2011” by The Nation.(13) With almost 50,000 individual contributions, the PCCC raised more than $800,000 for Warren's campaign.(14)
<>
The Progressive Change Campaign Committee (PCCC) is a U.S. political action committee which focuses on building progressive power. This includes electing progressive Democrats to the Senate and House of Representatives and advocating for progressive policy responses to national and local political issues.(2)(3)(4)
The PCCC was founded in 2009 by Adam Green, Stephanie Taylor, and Aaron Swartz. Michael Snook and Forrest Brown have worked with the organization since its founding year. The PCCC claims to have almost one million members.(5)
<>
Elizabeth Warren[edit]
In July 2011, the PCCC launched the grassroots effort to draft Elizabeth Warren to run for Senate in Massachusetts. Over 60,000 members joined the draft as potential volunteers or donors. The group organized several Draft Elizabeth Warren house parties across Massachusetts.(11) Supporters met to discuss the best way to support her candidacy and campaign were she to announce that she was going to run. In September 2011, after the demonstration of grassroots support, Warren announced she would run in 2012 against Republican Scott Brown.(12) The campaign to draft Warren was declared “The Most Valuable Campaign of 2011” by The Nation.(13) With almost 50,000 individual contributions, the PCCC raised more than $800,000 for Warren's campaign.(14)
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FYI: Lessig's Wikipedia states that he clerked for Justice Scalia at the Supreme Court for a year. Odd, isn't it? Also, considering Lessig was Swartz's mentor, I find reports that Swartz faced potentially crushing legal bills( http://www.yarbroughlaw.com/Newsletters/Newsletters_web_format/newsletter_47.htm ) very strange. Lessig's explanation below.
http://lessig.tumblr.com/post/40347463044/prosecutor-as-bully
LESSIG BLOG, V2
PROSECUTOR AS BULLY
(Some will say this is not the time. I disagree. This is the time when every mixed emotion needs to find voice.)
Since his arrest in January, 2011, I have known more about the events that began this spiral than I have wanted to know. Aaron consulted me as a friend and lawyer. He shared with me what went down and why, and I worked with him to get help. When my obligations to Harvard created a conflict that made it impossible for me to continue as a lawyer, I continued as a friend. Not a good enough friend, no doubt, but nothing was going to draw that friendship into doubt.
<>
Aaron had literally done nothing in his life “to make money.” He was fortunate Reddit turned out as it did, but from his work building the RSS standard, to his work architecting Creative Commons, to his work liberating public records, to his work building a free public library, to his work supporting Change Congress/FixCongressFirst/Rootstrikers, and then Demand Progress, Aaron was always and only working for (at least his conception of) the public good. He was brilliant, and funny. A kid genius. A soul, a conscience, the source of a question I have asked myself a million times: What would Aaron think? That person is gone today, driven to the edge by what a decent society would only call bullying. I get wrong. But I also get proportionality. And if you don’t get both, you don’t deserve to have the power of the United States government behind you.
For remember, we live in a world where the architects of the financial crisis regularly dine at the White House — and where even those brought to “justice” never even have to admit any wrongdoing, let alone be labeled “felons.”
In that world, the question this government needs to answer is why it was so necessary that Aaron Swartz be labeled a “felon.” For in the 18 months of negotiations, that was what he was not willing to accept, and so that was the reason he was facing a million dollar trial in April — his wealth bled dry, yet unable to appeal openly to us for the financial help he needed to fund his defense, at least without risking the ire of a district court judge. And so as wrong and misguided and fucking sad as this is, I get how the prospect of this fight, defenseless, made it make sense to this brilliant but troubled boy to end it.
Fifty years in jail, charges our government. Somehow, we need to get beyond the “I’m right so I’m right to nuke you” ethics that dominates our time. That begins with one word: Shame.
One word, and endless tears.
LESSIG BLOG, V2
PROSECUTOR AS BULLY
(Some will say this is not the time. I disagree. This is the time when every mixed emotion needs to find voice.)
Since his arrest in January, 2011, I have known more about the events that began this spiral than I have wanted to know. Aaron consulted me as a friend and lawyer. He shared with me what went down and why, and I worked with him to get help. When my obligations to Harvard created a conflict that made it impossible for me to continue as a lawyer, I continued as a friend. Not a good enough friend, no doubt, but nothing was going to draw that friendship into doubt.
<>
Aaron had literally done nothing in his life “to make money.” He was fortunate Reddit turned out as it did, but from his work building the RSS standard, to his work architecting Creative Commons, to his work liberating public records, to his work building a free public library, to his work supporting Change Congress/FixCongressFirst/Rootstrikers, and then Demand Progress, Aaron was always and only working for (at least his conception of) the public good. He was brilliant, and funny. A kid genius. A soul, a conscience, the source of a question I have asked myself a million times: What would Aaron think? That person is gone today, driven to the edge by what a decent society would only call bullying. I get wrong. But I also get proportionality. And if you don’t get both, you don’t deserve to have the power of the United States government behind you.
For remember, we live in a world where the architects of the financial crisis regularly dine at the White House — and where even those brought to “justice” never even have to admit any wrongdoing, let alone be labeled “felons.”
In that world, the question this government needs to answer is why it was so necessary that Aaron Swartz be labeled a “felon.” For in the 18 months of negotiations, that was what he was not willing to accept, and so that was the reason he was facing a million dollar trial in April — his wealth bled dry, yet unable to appeal openly to us for the financial help he needed to fund his defense, at least without risking the ire of a district court judge. And so as wrong and misguided and fucking sad as this is, I get how the prospect of this fight, defenseless, made it make sense to this brilliant but troubled boy to end it.
Fifty years in jail, charges our government. Somehow, we need to get beyond the “I’m right so I’m right to nuke you” ethics that dominates our time. That begins with one word: Shame.
One word, and endless tears.
A rapist? Please. 
break those laws as our founders did, and as protesters, OWS, and investigative journalists often do. But those that don't like people that speak truth to power can rationalize their deaths.
RIP, Aaron Swartz 
This is a fact-free zone. 
"In 2013, US Attorney General Eric Holder called the prosecution of Swartz “a good use of prosecutorial discretion.”
Wall street criminals and Bush regime war criminals are safe and sound, but whistleblowers and truthtellers are prosecuted.
America is a very sick and corrupt country
