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Aaron Swartz
New information on MIT’s conduct in the Swartz affair seems to contradict earlier statements from the university that it was not an active participant in the investigation and only reluctantly participated in the prosecution.
From the New York Times:
Mr. Swartz’s actions presented M.I.T. with a crucial choice: the university could try to plug the weak spot in its network or it could try to catch the hacker, then unknown.
The decision — to treat the downloading as a continuing crime to be investigated rather than a security threat that had been stopped — led to a two-day cat-and-mouse game with Mr. Swartz and, ultimately, to charges of computerand wire fraud…
Mr. Swartz’s supporters called M.I.T.’s decision a striking step for an institution that prides itself on operating an open computer network and open campus — the home of a freewheeling programming culture.
MIT’s decision to launch an operation to catch “the hacker” who was downloading too many free articles lead to a “cat and mouse” game with MIT using hidden cameras and electronic surveillance against Swartz. The information collected from that game was turned over to prosecutors despite MIT not being a law enforcement organization acting under an official warrant.
“This was a pivotal moment,” said Elliot Peters, Mr. Swartz’s lawyer. “They could have decided, we’re going to unplug this computer, take it off the network and tell the police to get a warrant.”
Mr. Peters had persuaded a judge to hear his arguments that the evidence collected from the netbook be excluded from the trial, asserting that Mr. Swartz’s Fourth Amendment protections from unlawful search and seizure had been violated. (All charges against Mr. Swartz were dropped after his death.)
MIT also told Swartz’s father in two separate meetings that MIT was compelled by the government to hand over information, not that the university had conducted an operation that gathered information on Swartz which it then volunteered to authorities.
Photo by Fred Benenson under Creative Commons license
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Rise up! Revolt.
And how much credibility can MIT’s internal investigation be given when they have misrepresented like this?
“MIT also told Swartz’s father in two separate meetings that MIT was compelled by the government to hand over information, not that the university had conducted an operation that gathered information on Swartz which it then volunteered to authorities.”
Sickening.
MIT (Motu in Training) Modern Fascism will be implemented with technology not Brown Shirts with guns.
I would love to recommend this important post, but for some reason FDL isn’t giving me that option :(
DS is a regular front-pager whose work does not require rec’s to keep it up.
Aaron Swartz intended, by his attorney, to assert his fourth amendment rights. And a judge was willing to hear those arguments. But is not the fourth amendment rather quaint in the era of War on Terrorism? Like the first amendment, the Geneva Convention, Habeas Corpus and the whole rest of the Rule of Law apparatus?
Now, you may object, what did the conduct of Aaron Swartz have to do with the War on Terrorism? It had nothing to do with it, of course, but those of us who raise that question are obviously missing The Point .
This is just another example of universities no longer being primarily in the realm of education and exchange of ideas; it is part and parcel of the police state (see UCDavis).
Of course the patriot act and other acts and decisions have completely gutted the Constitution except for defining some things such as office holder quals and the 2nd Amend. The law is what local le officials saw it is in their area and what the pres says nationally.
MIT is very much part of the establishment (for want of a better word’s occurring to me at this moment).
The establishment protects the establishment, and never more vigorously than when one of its own is the accused.
MIT kept its establishment cred by going above and beyond with respect to one of its own. And then lied.
Fuckers.
Make that “lying fuckers.”
Can you possibly be a little more specific?
Why does this not surprise me at all?
Thanks for the clarification, I’m just a lil’ ol newbie!
What is perhaps most surprising about this story is that The New York Times broke it.
Perhaps wishful thinking but The New York Times’ breaking of this story, combined with the numerous criticisms of the actions of the Massachusetts U.S. Attorney by both sides of the aisle in Congress, suggest to me that there is quite a lot of establishment opposition to the emergence of the hyper-security state.
I agree, not all of the uber wealthy are certifiably crazy and some will break ranks even if the pain and suffering they see isn’t someone they know personally.
Was MIT perhaps bowing to a corrupt criminal justice system and corrupt federal court system? Aaron’s legal download of court records from PACER initiated a watch and government harassment. Further, and again, there was no hacking! There was no stealing! There was abuse of power and purposeful misinterpretation/stretching of the laws with a goal to eventually ban Aaron from computers. The only criminals in this instant matter are the ones being supported by the tax payer who have decided that they and they alone are exempt from the laws of this nation. BTW your corrupt legal community and corrupt federal court system make Bernie Madoff look like a piker. Pretense litigation with civil suits and malicious prosecutions in criminal matters to pad attorneys pockets and the pockets of corrupt public servants is routine! Why has Carmen Ortiz and the FBI/DOJ not taken action with documented proof that public servants use computers paid for by the tax payer to run pretense litigation and that their little capers include the identity theft of Circuit and US District Judges along with fraudulent docket entries and the rendering of bogus opinions and judgments to obstruct justice. Gee if Aaron had been able to continue his efforts on getting ALL court records free to the public the ruses in these courts would be evident and the game would be over. WHY did CARMEN ORTIZ AND MIT go after the one person that could expose alleged criminals that she had no intention of prosecuting. Nothing from our courts or any government agency can be trusted. Never in the history of this country have we needed at the current critical level actual OPEN GOVERNMENT and utilization of the FOIA. Aaron Swartz was a thorn in the side of a corrupt government and a VERY CORRUPT FEDERAL COURT SYSTEM!!! Harassment over the PACER incident simply led Aaron to pursue another form of information release where as an academic he knew common sense would prevail because who in their right mind was going to object to EDUCATION? Well apparently alleged criminals objected because they now had a way to bar Aaron from computers. Carmen Ortiz do your damn job and go after real criminals? “Decency, security and liberty alike demand that government officials shall be subjected to the rules of conduct that are commands to the citizen. In a government of laws, existence of the government will be imperiled if it fails to observe the law scrupulously. Our government is the potent, omnipresent teacher. For good or for ill, it teaches the whole people by its example. Crime is contagious. If the government becomes a lawbreaker, it breeds contempt for the law, it invites every man to come a law unto himself. It invites anarchy. (United States v. Olmstead, 277 U.S. 438 (1928). Justice Louis Brandeis http://www.scribd.com/tired_of_corruption
Very well said and I think we are already there, sadly.
Fascism…….
Excellent, germane quotation… cheating and corruption at the top leads to a cynical disregard for honest behavior at all levels of society. The amazing thing is how many ordinary decent, disempowered people still try to do the right thing, even as they are getting screwed over daily by corrupt “leaders.”
I’m shocked, shocked, that the management of an Elite institution actively engaged in such behavior.
And lied about it to parents. Oh, the shock.
On a serious note, the kernel of truth in the right-wing critique of the Liberal Establishment and the Ivory Tower and whatnot is that our nation’s institutions of higher learning really are basically run by a professional group of managers unattached to the educational and social missions of the particular organizations.
Our collective inability to address leadership failures at places like MIT and Harvard is exactly what leads to situations like this. (for example, by promoting the lackeys more than the honest academics)