United States v. Swartz

United States v. Aaron Swartz
CourtUnited States District Court for the District of Massachusetts
Full case name United States of America v. Aaron Swartz
DefendantAaron Swartz
ProsecutionCarmen Ortiz
Stephen Heymann
Citation1:11-cr-10260
Court membership
Judge sittingNathaniel M. Gorton

In United States of America v. Aaron Swartz, Aaron Swartz, an American computer programmer, writer, political organizer and Internet activist, was prosecuted for multiple violations of the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act of 1986 (CFAA), after downloading academic journal articles through the MIT computer network from a source (JSTOR) for which he had an account as a Harvard research fellow. Federal prosecutors eventually charged him with two counts of wire fraud and eleven violations of the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act,[1] charges carrying a cumulative maximum penalty of $1 million in fines plus 35 years in prison, asset forfeiture, restitution and supervised release.[2] Facing trial and the possibility of imprisonment, Swartz died by suicide, and the case was consequently dismissed.[3][4][5]

  1. ^ Cite error: The named reference Superced was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  2. ^ Cite error: The named reference SwartzAaronPR was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  3. ^ July 2011 Initial Federal Indictment of Aaron Swartz. Posted by New York Times, 19 July 2011. Retrieved 20 May 2013.
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  5. ^ Cite error: The named reference DocketAlarm was invoked but never defined (see the help page).