Aaron Swartz & JSTOR
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Internet Activist Charged in Data Theft
2:19 p.m. | Updated Added links to documents and comment from United States Attorney’s office in Boston. 2:48 p.m. | Updated Changed headline and post to remove reference to Mr. Swartz being a co-founder of Reddit, as this is disputed . Added comment from Demand Progress. Aaron Swartz, a 24-year-old programmer and online political activist, has been indicted in Boston on charges that he stole more than four million documents from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and JSTOR , an archive of scientific journals and academic papers. (Read the full indictment below.)
Feds Charge Activist As Hacker For Downloading Millions of Academic Articles
Updated: The results of Swartz’s arraignment were added to the story July 19, 2011; 5 p.m. EDT Well-known coder and activist Aaron Swartz was arrested Tuesday, charged with violating federal hacking laws for downloading millions of academic articles from a subscription database service that MIT had given him access to via a guest account. If convicted, Swartz faces up to 35 years in prison and a $1 million fine.
Former Reddit co-owner arrested for excessive JSTOR downloads
Swartz is a founder of the advocacy organization Demand Progress. In a statement , Demand Progress executive director David Segal blasted the arrest. "It's like trying to put someone in jail for allegedly checking too many books out of the library," he said.
By Milton J. Valencia, Globe Staff A Cambridge man who was a fellow at Harvard University’s Edmond J. Safra Center for Ethics is now facing federal charges that he hacked into a Massachusetts Institute of Technology computer archive system to steal more than 4 million articles from scientific journals and academic work. Aaron Swartz, 24, was charged with wire fraud, computer fraud, unlawfully obtaining information from a protected computer, and recklessly damaging a protected computer. He faces up to 35 years in prison and a $1 million fine.
Cambridge man accused of hacking MIT computers to steal 4m scientific papers from Metro Desk
For a long time, it was the folks who downloaded music or movies illegally that faced the wrath of government prosecutors. So the unsealing of an indictment today against Aaron Swartz, former Reddit -er and founder of Demand Progress , for the illegal download of some 4 million-odd academic journal articles may sound a bit unusual. Demand Progress has issued a statement suggesting Swartz's actions were akin to "checking too many books out of the library." But the government clearly disagrees as the charges include wire fraud, computer fraud, and unlawfully obtaining information from a protected computer.
How he did it & why ?
What would happen if you hacked into a library?
The journals and documents that Swartz is alleged to have downloaded are held in the so-called JSTOR archive, which is a database of thousands of scholarly journals maintained by a non-profit organization created in 1995 to allow institutions to share these publications easily. According to a statement from JSTOR, the organization is not involved in the indictment against Swartz. Its statement says that after it noticed unauthorized access to its documents occurring at MIT late last year:
Posted by Bob Warfield on July 19, 2011 Aaron Swartz, one of the founders of Reddit, is garnering a great deal of attention after having been indicted on charges he stole over four million academic documents. Being a quasi-celebrity and political activist, the indictment is prompting a number of articles in my blog reader , and it has certainly rung Techmeme’s bell more than once. The details of the alleged theft are certainly titillating: This time around, Swartz circumvented MIT’s guest registration process altogether when he connected to MIT’s computer network. By this point, Swartz was familiar with the IP addresses available to be assigned at the switch in the restricted network interface closet in the basement of MIT’s Building 16.
Swartz Stole Academic Articles? Why Weren’t They Free In The First Place?
Cambridge, MA – 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. “This makes no sense,” said Demand Progress Executive Director David Segal; “it’s like trying to put someone in jail for allegedly checking too many books out of the library.”
Federal Government Indicts Former Demand Progress Executive Director For Downloading Too Many Journal Articles
WEDNESDAY MORNING UPDATE: The mainstream coverage of Aaron's arrest has turned in his favor -- and public support for him is an important part of the story. Here's a sampling of recent articles: BOSTON GLOBE: By yesterday afternoon, however, Swartz had received an outpouring of support from colleagues and friends who took to blogs and websites to defend his work and maintain that the charges against him are heavy-handed. More than 15,000 people had signed a letter of support for Swartz on the website Demand Progress.org HUFFINGTON POST: JSTOR's the one that should be in prison, man, for locking up knowledge. NEW YORK TIMES: A respected Harvard researcher who also is an Internet folk hero has been arrested in Boston on charges related to computer hacking, which are based on allegations that he downloaded articles that he was entitled to get free.
Show Your Support For Aaron
An archive containing over 18,000 scientific papers, downloaded from the academic journal database JSTOR , has been uploaded to The Pirate Bay , where they're now available as a torrent . The papers were uploaded by a user named Greg Maxwell who says that his decision to make the large quantity of scientific papers available was a response to the indictment earlier this week of early Reddit -er and Demand Progress founder Aaron Swartz . Swartz has been charged with felony hacking and computer fraud for downloading some 4.8 million papers from JSTOR. While the government has labeled Swartz's actions as "stealing," some have questioned whether that's the right description for what Swartz did and whether a possible 35-year-sentence is warranted.
