Federal prosecutors in Boston were pursuing criminal hacking charges against Aaron Swartz that could have resulted in $4 million in fines and more than 50 years in prison. The alleged crime involved downloading millions of scientific and academic papers from MIT and JSTOR. JSTOR settled any civil claims with Aaron Swartz and reportedly asked prosecutors to drop any criminal charges but prosecutors persevered. The 26-year-old Aaron Swartz committed suicide on January 11, 2013.
With the abrupt and tragic end to Aaron Swartz's life and the criminal case against him, it is important to have a public accounting for the DOJ prosecutors' motives in pursuing this case. Prosecutorial discretion is broad but not unlimited - the death of a young man raises questions whether it was abused.