• TAG@lemmy.world
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    3 days ago

    Different crimes. Swartz was charged with breaking into the MIT network and destroying it, because he connected to their guest Wi-Fi and used (way) too much bandwidth. From what I heard, both the copyright holder and prosecutor only wanted to give him a slap on the wrist and firm talking to. It was MIT network support/campus police that insisted on accusing him of every crime possible.

    If you want a better case to compare it to, cite the cases brought by Metallica saying that their album did not sell 10 billion copies because a single mother listened to it without paying.

    • nop@lemmy.world
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      3 days ago

      Aaron Swartz was charged with a multitude of criminal counts well beyond breaking MITs network. Wikipedia article has more details and the references to back it up.

    • AngryCommieKender@lemmy.world
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      3 days ago

      MIT didn’t even want more than a slap on the wrist. He was literally one of their “golden boys.” The FBI agents wanted to make an example, and pad their careers.