Prosecutor defends case against Aaron Swartz. U.S. attorney for Massachusetts says prosecutors acted reasonablyThey sought only a six-month prison term for Aaron Swartz, she saysSwartz's family says federal charges were a factor in Swartz's suicideThe Internet prodigy and activist helped develop social news site Reddit and RSS (CNN) -- A federal prosecutor is pushing back against the claim by the grieving family of Internet activist Aaron Swartz that "prosecutorial overreach" was a factor in his suicide, saying her office acted "fairly and responsibly.
" News of the death of Swartz, 26, last Friday sent shock waves through the hacker community, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and the larger online world. His family and partner issued a statement saying that federal charges filed over allegations that he stole millions of online documents -- mostly scholarly papers -- from MIT through the university's computer network contributed to Swartz's decision to take his own life. But the U.S. attorney for Massachusetts, Carmen M. A Friend Remembers Aaron Swartz. Aaron Swartz at a Creative Commons event in 2008.
(Fred Benenson/Wikimedia Commons) Journalist and author Rick Perlstein got an offer out of the blue, back in 2005. A young man named Aaron Swartz contacted him and offered to build him a website for free. Federal Prosecutor Says Aaron Swartz Case Handled Well. Aaron Swartz is pictured at Boston Wiki Meetup in August 2009.
(ragesoss/Flickr) A federal prosecutor criticized over criminal charges against an Internet activist who killed himself in New York says her office’s handling of the case was “appropriate.” U.S. Attorney Carmen Ortiz on Wednesday extended her “heartfelt sympathy” to Swartz’s loved ones but continued to defend the charges against him and said her office had acted properly.