A week after the suicide of internet activist and hacker Aaron Schwartz, over 25,000 people have signed a petition calling for the removal of US Attorney Carmen Ortiz, who prosecuted him for illegally downloading academic articles.
The 26-year-old Schwartz was facing 13 felony charges, with a possible sentence of 35 years in prison and a million dollar fine.
His family released a statement calling his death “the product of a criminal justice system rife with intimidation and prosecutorial overreach” and blamed both the Massachusetts U.S. Attorney and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
KBOO’s Zeke Harrington spoke with Dr Richard Stallman, President of the Free Software Foundation and visiting professor at MIT, about the implications of Aaron Schwartz’s case.
- KBOO