Aaron Schwartz, the founder of Demand Progress and former employee of Reddit was arrested today for downloading too many academic articles.
Demand Progress, a group dedicated to fighting Internet censorship, reports:
“Moments ago, Aaron Swartz, former executive director and founder of Demand Progress, was indicted by the US government. As best as we can tell, he is being charged with allegedly downloading too many scholarly journal articles from the Web. The government contends that downloading said articles is actually felony computer hacking and should be punished with time in prison.”
Aside from “massive copying” Schwartz is suspected of several other violations including computer fraud and wire fraud.
The New York Times adds:
“The charges were filed by the United States Attorney for the District of Massachusetts, Carmen M. Ortiz, and could result in up to 35 years in prison and a $1 million fine.”
“In a press release, Ms. Ortiz’s office said that Mr. Swartz broke into a restricted area of M.I.T. and entered a computer wiring closet. Mr. Swartz apparently then accessed the M.I.T. computer network and took millions of documents from JSTOR.”
Yes another example of how science is being abused by the ruthless copyright lobby.
