Aaron Swartz, brilliant programmer and co-creator of RSS and Reddit, as well as a highly respected open internet and anti-corruption advocate, recently took his life amidst a financially draining legal fight against the Massachusetts attorneys office. The legal challenge had left him depressed, and destitute. And yet, his only crime was downloading academic articles from JSTOR. Despite JSTOR dropping the charges, this matter was zealously pursued by the Massachusetts prosecutor's offices under the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act. By expert accounts, it is doubtful any crime was committed and yet a man who was otherwise a credit to his nation, is now dead. We petition the Administration to launch an official review and censure of the Massachusetts prosecutors, as well as this law.
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