Aaron Swartz has committed suicide

[Hurlshort]

Remove United States District Attorney Carmen Ortiz from office for overreach in the case of Aaron Swartz.

https://petitions.wh...swartz/RQNrG1Ck

 

This is actually a good petition. I didn't know much about this guy before he committed suicide, but it sounds like he was a victim of a way overzealous DA. This should have been a misdemeanor case at the worst, and it put a guy that already seemed to be struggling with mental issues over the edge.

 

 

 

So thanks for the good link Oby

Edited January 14, 2013 by Hurlshot

[Valsuelm]

Remove United States District Attorney Carmen Ortiz from office for overreach in the case of Aaron Swartz.

https://petitions.wh...swartz/RQNrG1Ck

 

This is actually a good petition. I didn't know much about this guy before he committed suicide, but it sounds like he was a victim of a way overzealous DA. This should have been a misdemeanor case at the worst, and it put a guy that already seemed to be struggling with mental issues over the edge.

 

 

 

So thanks for the good link Oby

 

This petition as well as most others are meh at best. It's a PR game on both sides most times.

 

Frankly, if you think this particular DA was overzealous you're not familiar with standard operating procedures in most DA officers. It's quite the norm to bury someone in charges, trumped up, fictional, essentially doubly/triply charged for the same thing to force them to plea. More often than not people accept pleas and cases never even see trial for things as frivolous as punching someone to as serious as murder. Innocence or guilt has nothing to do with it most of the time, convictions for the prosecutor and making the best of a really bad situation for the defendant is what's important.

 

The idea that you're innocent until proven guilty is not actually practiced in most courtrooms, as the deck is stacked incredibly in favor of the state these days. It's also not the idea that is prevalent in most American's minds. For a great many, if you were arrested you must have done something wrong. If you were familiar with how most police departments operated you'd know that is very much not the case these days as you can get arrested for something as trivial as pissing off a cop, or just being in the wrong place at the wrong time. Yea, you might win in court, but the costs to you are usually very high and to the cop usually very low if anything at all.

 

One of the greatest bits of corruption going on in our nation is that cops and state officials (very much including DAs) are largely given immunity for all sorts of things that your average citizen might be fried for.

 

So, while I wholeheartedly agree that this DA was overzealous, and what he did was wrong on many a level, what he did is very much the norm almost everywhere.

[WDeranged]

They just dropped the charges against him...how the hell does that work?

[Gorth]

They just dropped the charges against him...how the hell does that work?

 

Maybe some bright guy eventually figured out the chances of getting him behind bars (put the coffin in a cell and tell him to stay there for 30 days)?

[Gorgon]

I don't know the names of any of these new breed hacktivists. Is this a fault on my part ?.

 

Anyway, my hat's off to anyone who still thinks they can change the world for the better. It will pass with age, but it's nice while it lasts.

[BBMorti]

Who is he? Never heard of him.

"

"No thinking allowed."

[samm]

I don't know the names of any of these new breed hacktivists. Is this a fault on my part ?.

 

Anyway, my hat's off to anyone who still thinks they can change the world for the better. It will pass with age, but it's nice while it lasts.

Point is, he already did (cause the people to do) so

[Walsingham]

I don't know the names of any of these new breed hacktivists. Is this a fault on my part ?.

 

Anyway, my hat's off to anyone who still thinks they can change the world for the better. It will pass with age, but it's nice while it lasts.

 

Shame his definition of change the world for the better was "However and in whatever way I please". I'm off to lynch some turtles. Suck it, Democracy!

[Meshugger]

What did he hack and how is that comparable to animal torture?

[Luridis]

US Congressmen have initiated inquiry into the behavior of the prosecution.

 

http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2013/01/congressmen-want-answers-from-aaron-swartz-prosecutors/

[Valsuelm]

US Congressmen have initiated inquiry into the behavior of the prosecution.

 

http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2013/01/congressmen-want-answers-from-aaron-swartz-prosecutors/

 

I'll quote a random guy who posted a comment on the above story as he's 100% correct:

 

""Why did prosecutors seek 50 years in prison and $1 million in fines?"

 

Because that's what they always do? It isn't like this case is unique. They will seek the absolute maximum they are allowed to under the law, not because they think it is what the person deserves, but because it gives them more leverage to force a plea deal.

 

If congress doesn't like that, they should fix it. They're the ones making the laws that allow prosecutors to seek such absurd penalties. "

 

 

I'd only add that it's not just congress, it's state and local governments as well.

[TrashMan]

This petition as well as most others are meh at best. It's a PR game on both sides most times.

 

Frankly, if you think this particular DA was overzealous you're not familiar with standard operating procedures in most DA officers. It's quite the norm to bury someone in charges, trumped up, fictional, essentially doubly/triply charged for the same thing to force them to plea. More often than not people accept pleas and cases never even see trial for things as frivolous as punching someone to as serious as murder. Innocence or guilt has nothing to do with it most of the time, convictions for the prosecutor and making the best of a really bad situation for the defendant is what's important.

 

The idea that you're innocent until proven guilty is not actually practiced in most courtrooms, as the deck is stacked incredibly in favor of the state these days. It's also not the idea that is prevalent in most American's minds. For a great many, if you were arrested you must have done something wrong. If you were familiar with how most police departments operated you'd know that is very much not the case these days as you can get arrested for something as trivial as pissing off a cop, or just being in the wrong place at the wrong time. Yea, you might win in court, but the costs to you are usually very high and to the cop usually very low if anything at all.

 

One of the greatest bits of corruption going on in our nation is that cops and state officials (very much including DAs) are largely given immunity for all sorts of things that your average citizen might be fried for.

 

So, while I wholeheartedly agree that this DA was overzealous, and what he did was wrong on many a level, what he did is very much the norm almost everywhere.

 

 

I could swear I read on another forum the exact same thing, almsot word for word....