MIT Report Faults Neutrality Toward Aaron Swartz in Downloading Case

The Massachusetts Institute of Technology, while maintaining a “neutral” stance toward the prosecution of Internet activist Aaron Swartz, failed to live up to its commitment to the free exchange of ideas, a report found.

MIT didn’t take into account that Swartz was a “well-known contributor to Internet technology,” according to Tuesday’s report, led by professor Hal Abelson. Swartz killed himself in January as he awaited trial on charges he broke into the school’s network to download millions of research articles.

The university, which prides itself on promoting openness, and the U.S. Justice Department have faced criticism for their roles in pursuing Swartz, considered a hero by many in the movement to make information available for free. The law used to pursue him was “poorly drafted” when “applied to modern computing,” according to the report. Read more...