I'm not sure what you're getting at here. While I'll agree it was overzealous to make a federal case out of this, you can't blame federal prosecutors for doing their fucking jobs just because someone kills themselves. Many people have survived federal prosecution without dying or killing themselves.

I'm shocked and horrified by this news too. It's awful that Aaron died. But it's foolish to blame anybody but him for his actions in this.

Presumably DOJ doesn't flip coins to decide which cases to handle as there is considerable time, money and other resources involved in each case.

It would be interesting to know how much political and lobbying interests influence those prosecutions. I could not find anything of substance on this topic.

JSTOR can of course officially deny everything, but other publishers, along with MPAA would probably have a vested interest in turning him into an example.

Presumably, from what I had just read here, Aaron's political views wouldn't exactly been too popular with the US govt -- maybe this is just enough to put his case at the top of the stack.

Who are you referring to, exactly?

The federal prosecutors? The division head? The attorney general?

How do you plan to identify the parties bent on indicting him? You certainly can't assume the prosecutors took this on as some sort of personal crusade.

Assuming you can identify the individuals most responsible, what do you plan to do to punish them for their actions? The implication of getting "names and faces" out in the public domain is potentially serious.

I've seen this sentiment echoed variously up and down this thread, and it is scary. Inaction is not the appropriate response here, but neither is the public stoning you appear to be proposing.

I can't speak for anyone else, but I'd just like to place on the record that if I die under similar circumstances, my wish is that nobody will start an ugly witch hunt in my name.

It was Carmen Ortiz who was responsible for the unjust overzealous prosecution of Aaron Swartz which ultimately contributed to his death.

Carmen Ortiz's blind ambition has caused her to run roughshod over people's freedom in the past: http://thephoenix.com/Boston/news/141253-15th-annual-muzzle-...

We can only discourage the over-zealousness of prosecutors by making sure that it becomes a career limiting move instead of a career advancing one.

Lessig was kind enough in his writeup to not name names: http://lessig.tumblr.com/post/40347463044/prosecutor-as-bull... but this kindness is both undeserved and unwise. Carmen thinks big convictions will get her a federal judgeship or other appointment. The public needs to make sure this isn't the case.

This question seems to imply that his death is the DOJ's fault, which I find preposterous.

Carmen M. Ortiz, US Attorney

http://www.justice.gov/usao/ma/meetattorney.html

Knowing the reddit community, do you really think that is a good idea?