JSTOR an Entitlement For US DoJ's Ortiz & Holder 287
theodp writes "If Aaron Swartz downloaded JSTOR documents without paying for them, it would presumably be considered a crime by the USDOJ. But if U.S. Attorney Carmen Ortiz or U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder did the same? Rather than a crime, it would be considered their entitlement, a perk of an elite education that's paid for by their alma maters. Ironically and sadly, that's the kind of inequity Aaron railed against with the Guerilla Open Access Manifesto, a document the DOJ cited as evidence (pdf) that Swartz was a menace to society. On Thursday, Ortiz insisted Swartz — who she now characterizes as 'mentally ill' — received fair and reasonable treatment from the DOJ. But that wasn't good enough for Senator John Cornyn, who on Friday asked Eric Holder to explain the DOJ prosecution of Aaron Swartz."
Federal prosecutors have come under heavy criticism for their handling of the Swartz case. Legal scholar Orin Kerr provides counterpoint with two detailed, well-reasoned posts about the case. Kerr says that, as the law stands, the charges against Swartz were "pretty much legit," and that the law itself should be the target of the internet community's angst, rather than the prosecutors. "...blame the system and aim to reform the system; don’t think that this was just two or three prosecutors that were doing something unusual. It wasn’t." James Boyle, co-founder of the Center for the Study of the Public Domain, disagrees with Kerr (partly), arguing that Swartz's renown is simply drawing people together to collectively shine a light on poor legislation and poor prosecutorial practices.
Re:Precedent (Score:3, Informative)
Quite true, and quite extensive.
Political abuse of psychiatry in the Soviet Union [wikipedia.org]
JSTOR (Score:5, Informative)
I am an alumnus of one to the members of the JSTOR alumni program (Yale).
This article is VERY misleading.
JSTOR is a non-profit company founded by an ex-president of Princeton University aimed at reducing costs associated with maintaining large archives of journals at universities.
The alumni access to JSTOR described was part of a PILOT PROGRAM. This has been extended to all institutions that participate in JSTOR.
In addition JSTOR had nothing to do with the criminal charges brought against Aaron Shwartz. JSTOR asked that no charges be brought.
This was solely the result of actions taken by MIT and the DOJ.
JSTOR in fact is very inclusive. They have programs that provide access to secondary schools, public libraries and so forth.
http://about.jstor.org/fees/13006#tab-fees [jstor.org]
Also JSTOR hosts significant public domain content that is available free to anyone.
Re:The law is a ass. (Score:4, Informative)
That's ridiculous. No right is absolute. Congress shall make no law.... except of course slander etc are illegal. The guarantee of free exercise of religion does not permit you to harvest whores off the street and stone them according to the requirements of various religions.
I am sure the founding fathers would recognize that public safety does in fact place restraints on gun ownership as well.