Aaron had unauthorized access to MIT's network, through which he downloaded JSTOR's documents, and the value calculation they would use was based on the effort of various academic authors around the world. MIT complained to the prosecutor, and who brought the case despite JSTOR not being interested and no complaint from the actual owners of those documents (which mostly was not JSTOR).

In my parallel scenario, the cable company takes the role of MIT, open source repositories take the role of JSTOR, and open source authors take the role of the academic researchers, journals, etc who owned the documents downloaded. The parallel is exact. If the cable company (like MIT) complained, the fact that the other pieces of the puzzle do not want charges brought would not stop an overzealous prosecutor from being able to charge me.

What could I be charged with? Of the 4 initial charges against Aaron Swartz, the fact that he caused damage only matters for the last one. The first three are only concerned with the fact of unauthorized access over a network of valuable property. My parallel scenario has that.

The amendment that is being proposed saying that violation of terms of service does not suffice to count as unauthorized access under this bill would protect my case. That change is definitely needed. As I've commented elsewhere, the fact that Aaron's access required physical trespass means that his lack of authority did not merely stem from violating the terms of service. Therefore I don't believe that he would have been protected by the proposed bill that bears his name.