There has been a lot written about Adam Swartz, including no shortage of blog posts. I didn't know the guy and, frankly, I had never heard of him before he committed suicide. It is arguable that his prosecution was akin to using a flamethrower to kill a gnat and maybe the President should fire the U.S. Attorney in Boston.
Prosecutorial discretion is supposed to mean something. Threatening Swartz with 30+ years in jail for what was a victimless crime was a hell of an overreach. Maybe Ortiz should go do something more suitable to her temperament.* And MIT deserves all of the brickbats being tossed their way.
It is probably fair to say that Swantz engaged in an act of civil disobedience. He had a point: Scientific research that is funded by government grants should be available to those who paid for it (us). But it isn't and he allegedly broke the law in downloading it.
Civil disobedience is a time-honored tool for effecting change. But the Baretta Rule applies: "Don't do the crime if you can't do the time."
________________________________
* Like clubbing baby seals or being a school administrator.
A blog by a "sucker" and a "loser" who served her country in the Navy.
If you're one of the Covidiots who believe that COVID-19 is "just the flu",
that the 2020 election was stolen, or
especially if you supported the 1/6/21 insurrection,
leave now.
Slava Ukraini!
Tuesday, January 15, 2013
1 comment:
House Rules #1, #2 and #6 apply to all comments. Rule #3 also applies to political comments.
In short, don't be a jackass. THIS MEANS YOU!
If you never see your comments posted, see Rule #7.
All comments must be on point and address either the points raised in the blog post or points raised by commenters in response.
Any comments that drift off onto other topics are subject to deletion.
(Please don't feed the trolls.)
中國詞不評論，冒抹除的風險。僅英語。
COMMENT MODERATION IS IN EFFECT UFN. This means that if you are an insulting dick, nobody will ever see it.
If only he'd been a "banking professional," he'd be alive today.
ReplyDelete