Academia, Criminal law, Media, Politics, Society

Aaron Swartz And The Obama Administration’s War On Public Access To Information

220px-Aaron_Swartz_at_Boston_Wikipedia_Meetup,_2009-08-18_PresObamaThe suicide of famed programmer and free access advocate Aaron Swartz shocked the world. However, the underlying story of the how the Obama Administration prosecuted — and, in the eyes of many, persecuted — Swartz for seeking to publish academic papers which were later released by MIT without charge. Nevertheless, United States Attorney Carmen M. Ortiz and the Obama Administration relentlessly pursued Swartz and sought an absurd 35 years in prison and $1 million in fines before he took his own life. His family blames the Justice Department and Ortiz for his suicide. Swartz opposed the Administration’s fight against public access and particularly President Obama’s “Kill List.” The Swartz prosecution was widely criticized for months but the Obama Administration and Justice Department remained committed to putting him in jail.


Swartz was one of this country’s most extraordinary individuals. At age 14, he helped create RSS, the tool allowing people to subscribe to online information. He later was a founder of a company that merged with Reddit where we get many of our daily stories.

Swartz, 26, hanged himself and appears to have suffered from depression. Thus, the prosecution cannot be entirely attributed with his death. However, the Obama Administration hammered Swartz for months over his downloading of academic articles. Swartz has long been an advocate for public access to information. Like many of us, Swartz was critical of increasingly stringent laws balkanizing information in our society from works to words to even common images. He however took that crusade to extraordinary lengths.

In 2008, he took on PACER, or Public Access to Court Electronic Records, for its charging of 10 cents a page for documents. I agreed with Swartz about this charge as being a barrier to public access to our courts and important cases. He argued correctly that there should be free access. He co-founded Demand Progress to seek online access and fought for social reforms. The federal government, at the behest of industry groups, shutdown his free library program.

In 2011, Swartz took on JSTOR, the academic repository of papers and research. It is a subscription based service. He broke into the computer system at MIT through a utility closet using a laptop and a false identity. He downloaded 4.8 million documents. Notably, however, MIT chose not to pursue charges — to its credit. For many years, academics argued that such material should be free to the public as a matter of principle. Two days before Swartz’s death, MIT releases all documents publicly free of charge.

However, despite MIT’s position that it did not want to bring charges, Carmen M. Ortiz saw her chance. Carmen-Ortiz-144x150Ortiz is the United States Attorney for Massachusetts and a graduate of our law school who spoke recently at our commencement. Industry groups and lobbyists have long gotten what they wanted from Obama on criminalizing trademark and copyright violations. States have shown the same capture by industry groups. Swartz was a prime target as an advocate of public access and the Obama Administration threw everything that they had at him.

There is no question that Swartz crossed the line and broke into the system. However, given MIT’s position against charging Swartz, it would seem a case for prosecutorial discretion or a deal with Swartz. After all, students commit such acts regularly (though certainly not to the size of this download) without charges. Ortiz, however, sought decades in jail and ruinous fines to the great pleasure of the copyright hawks that run throughout the Administration. To the Administration, Swartz was just another felon who needed to be jailed for decades for his crime.

It is doubtful that the Administration will take any action to reduce the stranglehold on creativity and discussion by these laws. The Administration has brought in copyright hawks into the Administration and appointed them to the courts in a windfall for industry.

MIT has started an investigation into any role the school may have played in the prosecution by the Obama Administration. What is notable is that Swartz’s treatment at the hands of the Justice Department has caused outrage. However, thousands of average citizens have been ravaged by the Administration or industry law firms like the U.S. Copyright Group under these laws without attention or concern.

The abuse of Swartz speaks of industry capture of our government that has now claimed the life of one of the brightest of our country. He is the ultimate personification of how our copyright and trademark laws have been flipped on their head. Rather than protect creativity, they now stifle such creativity. We now have prosecutors and lawyers pursuing people like Swartz to prevent public access to information. His tragic image hanging in his apartment speaks to the dismal state of information control in this country. His was truly a beautiful mind and his death should galvanize his cause to empower citizens in their demand to breakdown the rising barriers to information in this country.

Source: NY Times

143 thoughts on “Aaron Swartz And The Obama Administration’s War On Public Access To Information”

  1. I signed a petition at White House dot gov to fire Carmen Ortiz. I just did a search there and cannot find it again.

    Am I doing something wrong? Because that petition should still be up on the White House petition site.

  2. I’ve probably said more than enough already. -DonS

    I think it’s safe to say that you’re not alone. I’ve topped you, I’m certain… 😉

    Excellent links and insights …and I, for one, appreciated them all.

  3. http://archive.org/stream/GuerillaOpenAccessManifesto/Goamjuly2008_djvu.txt

    Brief excerpt:

    There is no justice in following unjust laws. It’s time to come into the light and, in the grand tradition of civil disobedience, declare our opposition to this private theft of public culture.

    We need to take information, wherever it is stored, make our copies and share them with the world. We need to take stuff that’s out of copyright and add it to the archive. We need to buy secret databases and put them on the Web. We need to download scientific journals and upload them to file sharing networks. We need to fight for Guerilla Open Access.

    With enough of us, around the world, we’ll not just send a strong message opposing the privatization of knowledge — we’ll make it a thing of the past.

    Will you join us?

    Aaron Swartz

    July 2008, Eremo, Italy

  4. This is another take on one portion of the Professor Turley’s note that “There is no question that Swartz crossed the line and broke into the system.:. From the blog Talkleft:

    “One misperception I keep reading online is that Aaron broke into the wiring closet at MIT to download the documents. There was no unauthorized entry or trespass into either the wiring closet or the university’s network. The wiring closet was not locked and was accessible to the public. If you look at the pictures supplied by the Government, you can see graffiti on one wall. This was not a hands-off area. Also, MIT had an open campus policy.It welcomed guests and invited them to log onto their network while on campus. It didn’t take steps to verify who logged on. Using a pseudonym when logged on is not a violation or a crime. ”

    http://www.talkleft.com/story/2013/1/14/51325/7871

    This is all just detail around the edge of a very sad event. I’ve probably said more than enough already.

  5. Bron, “intellectual property” is a made-up term in the fine spirit of P.T. Barnum, an excuse to keep throwing your money away because someone is “smarter.” The internet makes a mockery of such claims. Meshnets will see it stays that way. Not every human endeavor can be monetized, and making sacred “intellectual property” means we must first decide who the intellectuals are, and why do we care what they say?

    Intellectual property, copyrights and patents have no future. If people wish to pay for what you create so be it, No one should be compelled to purchase “intellectual property” from first-fit software posing as homo sapiens.

  6. Again, great links, DonS. JaneH. is on the right track.

    “Seberg’s family blamed the FBI for her death, just as activist Aaron Swartz’s family rightly blames his overly zealous prosecutors. Public intolerance for this kind of government harassment and abuse of power should be vigorous and swift, but sadly there’s no better way for careerists to make their bones at the DoJ or any other agency right now than to engage in the personal destruction of activists advocating for the freedom of information.

    Aaron Swartz isn’t the first victim of this war nor, sadly, will he be the last. His death is collateral damage in a war being waged by a ruthless government intent on protecting a secretive and unaccountable kleptocracy at all costs.

    It’s tragic that this lesson must be learned anew by every generation, it seems.” -Jane Hamsher (refer to the link provided by DonS, above)

  7. “How long was it before I learned instead that he actually was a ball of pure coruscation…” Rick Perlstein

    http://www.thenation.com/blog/172187/aaron-swartz

    I had other plans for how to spend my Saturday. I had other plans for my next blog post here at The Nation. Then I learned my friend Aaron Swartz had committed suicide, facing a baseless, bullying federal indictment that might have sent him to jail for decades, and fate demanded this be a day to remember.

    I remember him contacting me out of the blue—was it in 2005?—and telling me I needed a website, and did I want him to build one for me? I smelled a hustle, asking him how much it would cost, and he said, no, he wanted to do it for free. I thought, What a loser this guy must be. Someone with nothing better to do.

    How long was it before I learned instead that he actually was a ball of pure coruscation…”

    —-

    Ball of coruscation = Aaron Swartz.

    A perfect description.

  8. “I am simply too saddened by this death to enter into any long discussion.” -Blouise

    It’s heartbreaking…

  9. Ben Franklin would be appalled since the foremost inventor and thinker in the US opposed a patent office. He felt that his inventions should be the property of all Americans. I read what Ortiz said at the GW commencement, and she violated all that she said. She is more motivated by personal advancement and fortunes, and I hope that she will NOT be allowed back.

  11. ap,

    I am simply too saddened by this death to enter into any long discussion. Every human being has a breaking point and the government placed the final straw on Aaron’s back. His family is correct in pointing their finger at Ortiz.

  15. “What Kind of Fishing Trip Did the Government Conduct into Aaron Swartz’ Amazon Data?”:

    http://www.emptywheel.net/2013/01/14/what-kind-of-fishing-trip-did-the-government-conduct-into-aaron-swartz-amazon-data/

    “A lot of people are justifiably furious with US Attorney Carmen Ortiz and AUSA Heymann’s conduct on this case.

    “But the involvement of the Secret Service just as it evolved from a local breaking and entry case into the excessive charges ultimately charged makes it clear that this was a nationally directed effort to take down Swartz.”

    http://www.emptywheel.net/2013/01/13/two-days-before-cambridge-cops-arrested-aaron-swartz-secret-service-took-over-the-investigation/

  16. It is still an anomaly that academic documents, produced by researchers paid from public grants, are the property of private company. Academic output stems from the international community, and belongs to humankind.

    Psychological harassment can lead to depression and suicide. It’s to easy to ascibe his dead to a mental condition.

  17. ap:

    I think people do get it, they just dont get it enough. The money the government doles out speaks loudly. They hate congress but love their congressman because he brings home bacon to their district.

    The people want the goodies, the only way to change is to eliminate the goodies but you dont want to do that, progressives like goodies distributed all around.

    You cant have it both ways. Government only has power because of the favors it sells to people and companies. Change the tax system and most regulations and you will end government monopoly on economic power.

    An internet business not beholden to government dictates is going to listen the its customers.

    A liberal in the 19th century believed in free markets, progressives changed that with Teddy Roosevelt and it has been downhill ever since.

  18. But, to me, much of Swartz’s tragically short life was filled with acts that are genuinely and, in the most literal and noble sense, heroic. I think that’s really worth thinking about today. … Whatever else is true, Swartz was destroyed by a “justice” system that fully protects the most egregious criminals as long as they are members of or useful to the nation’s most powerful factions, but punishes with incomparable mercilessness and harshness those who lack power and, most of all, those who challenge power.
    – Glenn Greeenwald 13 Jan 2013 (http://www.rememberaaronsw.com)

    “This sort of unrestrained prosecutorial abuse is, unfortunately, far from uncommon. It usually destroys people without attention or notice. Let’s hope – and work to ensure that – the attention generated by Swartz’s case prompts some movement toward accountability and reform.”
    -Glenn Greenwald (http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2013/jan/12/aaron-swartz-heroism-suicide1)

    Many Americans aren’t aware of the great lengths to which our government will go to destroy those who challenge the status-quo.

  19. Nate Awrich, you might look hard at your desire to insulate Obama from criticism as being of only second order importance, if that, of ANY — ANY — atrocity that takes place in the name and under the executive aegis and discretion of the United States of America and many administrati8ve tendrils. Letting Obama off the hook on a rhetorical nuance might seem clear to you, but to many of us he IS the leverage and motivation behind the deteriorating surveillance and information control state the US has become.
    t

  20. You have to wonder about this ‘progressive’ President. He makes Nixon with all his paranoia and trampling on the Constitution look like a real progressive. – Mark Collins

    We’re due for another Watergate-like moment. If and/or when the truth about what’s taking place on America soil is revealed, the tide might turn. Wikileaks has promised another round of “leaks” early this year.

    http://wikileaks.org/Statement-by-Julian-Assange-after.html

    “Next year will be equally busy. WikiLeaks has already over a million documents being prepared to be released, documents that affect every country in the world. Every country in this world.

    And in Australia an unelected Senator will be replaced by one that is elected.

    In 2013, we continue to stand up to bullies. The Ecuadorian government and the governments of Latin America have shown how co-operating through shared values can embolden governments to stand up to coercion and support self-determination. Their governments threaten no one, attack no one, send drones at no one. But together they stand strong and independent.

    The tired calls of Washington powerbrokers for economic sanctions against Ecuador, simply for defending my rights, are misguided and wrong. President Correa rightly said, “Ecuador’s principles are not for sale.” We must unite together to defend the courageous people of Ecuador, to defend them against intervention in their economy and interference in their elections next year.

    The power of people speaking up and resisting together terrifies corrupt and undemocratic power. So much so that ordinary people here in the West are now the enemy of governments, an enemy to be watched, an enemy to be controlled and to be impoverished.

    True democracy is not the White House. True democracy is not Canberra. True democracy is the resistance of people, armed with the truth, against lies, from Tahrir to right here in London. Every day, ordinary people teach us that democracy is free speech and dissent.

    For once we, the people, stop speaking out and stop dissenting, once we are distracted or pacified, once we turn away from each other, we are no longer free. For true democracy is the sum – is the sum – of our resistance.

    If you don’t speak up – if you give up what is uniquely yours as a human being: if you surrender your consciousness, your independence, your sense of what is right and what is wrong, in other words – perhaps without knowing it, you become passive and controlled, unable to defend yourselves and those you love.

    People often ask, “What can I do?”

    The answer is not so difficult.

    Learn how the world works. Challenge the statements and intentions of those who seek to control us behind a facade of democracy and monarchy.

    Unite in common purpose and common principle to design, build, document, finance and defend.

    Learn. Challenge. Act.

    Now.” -Julian Assange

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