Issa defends Internet freedom

Issa defends Internet freedom | UTSanDiego.com: ""Stick it to the man," said Issa, (US Congressman Darrell Issa) chairman of the House Oversight Committee, adding access to information is a "human right." Swartz took his own life last month as he faced multiple felony charges for allegedly hacking into Massachusetts Institute of Technology computers and downloading reams of scholarly articles he sought to make free to the world. Justice Department officials have agreed to brief Issa and other committee members about why the department originally charged the 26-year-old Swartz with four felony crimes and later upgraded it to 13 counts. Issa called that an overreaction and vowed that he and congressional colleagues will establish restraints on what he called an abuse of prosecutorial discretion. Swartz faced as much as 50 years in prison and $1 million in fines had he gone to trial as scheduled in April and been convicted. . . . "


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Blast from the Past--prosecutorial misconduct in the Aaron Swartz case

Blast from the Past--prosecutorial misconduct in the Aaron Swartz case--story from September 18, 2012:

US Government Ups Felony Count In JSTOR/Aaron Swartz Case From Four To Thirteen | Techdirt: "Not much has been said about the Aaron Swartz case over the past year as the wheels of "justice" slowly grind their way to an eventual court date. Swartz, the executive director of Demand Progress, was charged with violating the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act, a catch-all designation for "computer activity the US government doesn't like." Swartz had accessed MIT's computer network to download a large number of files from JSTOR, a non-profit that hosts academic journal articles. US prosecutors claimed he "stole" several thousand files, but considering MIT offered this access for free on campus (and the files being digital), it's pretty tough to square his massive downloading with any idea of "theft.". . . "

The prosecutors were squeezing Aaron hard--so hard that he committed suicide.  Isn't that a Department of Justice YOU are proud of! Read the full article here if you want a clue as to the misconduct of the US prosecution.  But Anonymous says they don't forget, and they don't forgive. So I expect the final chapters have yet to be written.

The Aaron Swartz case is just one of many disasters of the US Department of Justice under Eric Holder and Barack Obama--Fast and Furious, DEA murder and obstruction of justice, Kim Dotcom case . . . .

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Ortiz and Heymann--quite a "pair"

Federal prosecutor Carmen Ortiz, who threatened Aaron Swartz with decades in prison.(Credit: U.S. Department of Justice via cnet.com)

Swartz didn't face prison until feds took over case, report says | Politics and Law - CNET News "State prosecutors who investigated the late Aaron Swartz had planned to let him off with a stern warning, but federal prosecutor Carmen Ortiz took over and chose to make an example of the Internet activist, according to a report in Massachusetts Lawyers Weekly. Middlesex County's district attorney had planned no jail time, "with Swartz duly admonished and then returned to civil society to continue his pioneering electronic work in a less legally questionable manner," the report (alternate link) said. "Tragedy intervened when Ortiz's office took over the case to send 'a message.'" The report is likely to fuel an online campaign against Ortiz, who has been criticized for threatening the 26-year-old with decades in prison for allegedly downloading a large quantity of academic papers. An online petition asking President Obama to remove from office Ortiz -- a politically ambitious prosecutor . . . .  the sweeping nature of federal computer crime laws allowed Ortiz and Assistant U.S. Attorney Stephen Heymann, who wanted a high-profile computer crime conviction, to pursue felony charges. Heymann threatened the free-culture activist with over 30 years in prison as recently as the week before he killed himself. Rep. Zoe Lofgren, a Democrat whose district includes the heart of Silicon Valley, has proposed rewriting those laws. The Boston U.S. Attorney's office was looking for "some juicy looking computer crime cases and Aaron's case, sadly for Aaron, fit the bill," Elliot Peters, Swartz's attorney at the Keker & Van Nest law firm, told the Huffington Post. Heymann, Peters says, thought the Swartz case "was going to receive press and he was going to be a tough guy and read his name in the newspaper."

Well, Ortiz and Heymann will be reading their names alright--although probably not in the context they planned.  Apparently, in their arrogance or ignorance, they thought they were above accountability, all-powerful, "untouchable," and could destroy a life without consequences.

We'll see.

And by the way, the Swartz case was not an anomaly in the way this US Attorney office operated--just read the CNET article for more info.

In the meantime, now we've heard from Anonymous.

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