Posted on 07/19/2011 2:15:04 PM PDT by Hunton Peck
BOSTON (AP) — A Harvard University fellow who was studying ethics was charged with hacking into the Massachusetts Institute of Technology's computer network to steal nearly 5 million academic articles.
Aaron Swartz, 24, of Cambridge, was accused of stealing the documents from JSTOR, a popular research subscription service that offers digitized copies of more than 1,000 academic journals and documents, some dating back to the 17th century.
In an indictment released Tuesday, prosecutors say Swartz stole 4.8 million articles between September 2010 and January after breaking into a computer wiring closet on MIT's campus. Swartz, then a student at the Harvard's Center for Ethics, downloaded so many documents during one October day that some of JSTOR's computer servers crashed, according to the indictment.
Prosecutors say Swartz intended to distribute the articles on file-sharing websites.
Swartz turned himself in Tuesday and was arraigned at U.S. District Court, where he pleaded not guilty to charges including wire fraud, computer fraud and unlawfully obtaining information from a protected computer. He was released on $100,000 unsecured bond and faces up to 35 years in prison, if convicted.
"Stealing is stealing whether you use a computer command or a crowbar, and whether you take documents, data or dollars," U.S. Attorney Carmen Ortiz said in a statement. "It is equally harmful to the victim whether you sell what you have stolen or give it away."
A call to Swartz's attorney wasn't immediately returned. Swartz is due back in court Sept. 9.
A spokeswoman for JSTOR said Tuesday that Swartz had agreed to return all the articles, so the company can ensure they aren't distributed.
"We don't own any of this content. We really have to responsible stewards of it," said spokeswoman Heidi McGregor. "We worked hard to find out what was going on."
(Excerpt) Read more at centurylink.net ...
This is a very odd story. Why didn’t this guy access JSTOR via a Harvard computer?
This doesn’t seem to be a copyright infringement case. The charges involve breaking into the MIT computer and network.
You sure about that? Seems like copyright to me, but I could be wrong.
“He must think there’s a clamoring among the masses for free access to academic treatises.”
There is. And it would be beneficial to society if he did manage to get the out of print documents in a format where they could easily be accessed.
In terms of document preservation, if it’s not shared, it’s going to get lost.
This being an AP story, there's a lot left to the imagination...
...stealing the documents from JSTOR, a [non-profit] popular research subscription service that offers digitized copies of more than 1,000 academic journals and documents, some dating back to the 17th century... stole 4.8 million articles between September 2010 and January after breaking into a computer wiring closet on MIT's campus. Swartz, then a student at the Harvard's Center for Ethics, downloaded so many documents during one October day that some of JSTOR's computer servers crashed, according to the indictment... intended to distribute the articles on file-sharing websites... A spokeswoman for JSTOR said Tuesday that Swartz had agreed to return all the articles, so the company can ensure they aren't distributed.
Another thing he was apparently involved in [besides Reddit] was an open source whistleblower/leaker submission system called SecureDrop, inspired by Wikileaks:
“The first iteration, StrongBox, was used by the New Yorker, the Washington Post, the New York Times, and the Associated Press, allowing secure communications between journalists and sources in possession of sensitive information and documents. Those same journalists now rely on the latest version SecureDrop.”
I thin this guy hung himself in 2013 or at least that ws one tory.
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