Skip to main content
Swartz Review
What questions should MIT be asking at this stage of the Aaron Swartz review?
All Questions:
Is the MIT Office of Legal Counsel comfortable supporting MIT hacker culture, even (or especially) in legal gray areas?
Rating:
4.47619
Average:
4.5
(
21
votes)
Comments:
5
What support, if any, does MIT offer for students undergoing federal investigations or criminal charges? If none, why not?
Rating:
4.48
Average:
4.5
(
25
votes)
Comments:
5
Why is it that you get to review yourself?
Rating:
1.789475
Average:
1.8
(
19
votes)
Comments:
4
It appears that Swartz was not intending to sell any JSTOR content. Does this mean the main charge was trespassing?
Rating:
2.785715
Average:
2.8
(
14
votes)
Comments:
4
Why did MIT continue to support the charges against Aaron after JSTOR dropped their case?
Rating:
4.75862
Average:
4.8
(
29
votes)
Comments:
4
What options did MIT have in terms of issuing a public statement in support of Swartz? At what points would it have been legally possible to issue a statment? Possible under MIT policy? Was this option considered at these junctures?
Rating:
4.35
Average:
4.4
(
20
votes)
Comments:
3
Does MIT believe that copying the wrong bits warrants prison time?
Rating:
3.357145
Average:
3.4
(
28
votes)
Comments:
3
Doesn't MIT have the right to monitor (including w/ video) its own property, and hand that evidence over to the police if it feels there is a trespasser?
Rating:
3.6
Average:
3.6
(
10
votes)
Comments:
2
so why was he arrested, after all?
Rating:
3.133335
Average:
3.1
(
15
votes)
Comments:
2
Is there any record of Aaron attempting more straightforward/cooperative ways of downloading articles?
Rating:
3.555555
Average:
3.6
(
18
votes)
Comments:
2
Why isn't students' work free/open by default?
Rating:
3
Average:
3
(
2
votes)
Comments:
1
What is the record of prosecutor Carmen Ortiz arranging any plea bargain, either favorable or draconian, weeks before a trial?
Rating:
1
Average:
1
(
1
vote)
Comments:
1
Which powerful parties have an interest in this report being written a certain way, perhaps to cover up wrongdoing or protect MIT's reputation? How were they allowed to directly or indirectly influence the report?
Rating:
4
Average:
4
(
4
votes)
Comments:
1
Who within MIT was not forthcoming in providing information that could have been helpful to this report?
Rating:
4
Average:
4
(
4
votes)
Comments:
1
What MIT officials are in charge of protecting privacy of electronic records (logs)?
Rating:
5
Average:
5
(
4
votes)
Comments:
1
Were MIT's data retention and collection policies appropriate here? You cannot disseminate what you do not have.
Rating:
4.22222
Average:
4.2
(
9
votes)
Comments:
1
Were MIT faculty/staff even informed of the Swartz break-in incidence?
Rating:
4.75
Average:
4.8
(
8
votes)
Comments:
1
What are MIT's policies on investigating and prosecuting abuse of network resources? Were those policies followed in this case? Are those policies appropriate to our institutional culture?
Rating:
4.866665
Average:
4.9
(
15
votes)
Comments:
1
Were MIT's actions in this case consistent with MIT policy and with actions taken in prior situations when an individual was caught "misusing" the MIT network and network resources. If not, then why?
Rating:
4.636365
Average:
4.6
(
11
votes)
Comments:
1
Given MIT's tradition of student "hacks," MIT officials should ask: How would we have responded if Aaron Swartz had been an MIT student and had performed his actions by hacking into Harvard's network? And how would we have wanted Harvard to respond?
Rating:
3.166665
Average:
3.2
(
12
votes)
Comments:
1
Swartz's family has alleged in the press that MIT promised not to release more data to law enforcement than it had to, and not to do so without a warrant. Yet it seems to have done so. How can this be?
Rating:
4.555555
Average:
4.6
(
27
votes)
Comments:
1
I'm an alum. I'm withholding contributions until this is adequately addressed. Anyone with me?
Rating:
5
Average:
5
(
1
vote)
Comments:
0
What view did MIT take of the "superseding indictment" (additional charges) against Swartz and did it play a role in influencing (or trying to influence) the indictment one way or another? Who from MIT testified at the grand jury and what did they say?
Rating:
5
Average:
5
(
1
vote)
Comments:
0
Who told MIT Police to say Swartz had “no known address”?
Rating:
0
No votes yet
Comments:
0
What can MIT do to hasten reform of the academic publishing industry?
Rating:
0
No votes yet
Comments:
0
At one point did the secret service become involved in this investigation?
Rating:
2.333335
Average:
2.3
(
3
votes)
Comments:
0
To what extent did the larger context influence MIT's actions in this matter, particularly MIT's evident willingness to throw students to the dogs, even before all of the facts are in.
Rating:
2
Average:
2
(
4
votes)
Comments:
0
Harvard’s general counsel (Bob Iuliano) told a Law School professor not to advise Swartz. What did he tell MIT to do?
Rating:
5
Average:
5
(
2
votes)
Comments:
0
Reaching out to the family?
Rating:
5
Average:
5
(
3
votes)
Comments:
0
Did MIT contact the Justice Dept. on the JSTOR case or did the Justice Dept. contact MIT? Was MIT aware then or at any time that Swartz was being investigated by the US gov't. on matters other than the JSTOR business?
Rating:
1
Average:
1
(
1
vote)
Comments:
0
What, if anything, did MIT learn from its involvement in the federal prosecution of its student David LaMacchia back in 1994?
Rating:
5
Average:
5
(
3
votes)
Comments:
0
Is this the best an MIT 6.3 Professor can do to create and facilitate a discussion about MIT policy and its relationship to the Justice system? Or is this a way to make it as difficult as possible to post and discuss these issues?
Rating:
1
Average:
1
(
6
votes)
Comments:
0
Is MIT's reaction in the Swartz case symptomatic of a longer-term cultural drift?
Rating:
3.714285
Average:
3.7
(
7
votes)
Comments:
0
In general, how long does MIT keep logs? Does it need to keep them for that long? Are there processes in place such that formulated log policies will always be as minimal as possible?
Rating:
5
Average:
5
(
3
votes)
Comments:
0
What role did JSTOR play in the prosecution? What interaction occurred between JSTOR and MIT, and is there any historical precedent for such interaction?
Rating:
5
Average:
5
(
3
votes)
Comments:
0
Should MIT policies favor freedom of Information vs. the right of authors to a fair compensation?
Rating:
2.5
Average:
2.5
(
4
votes)
Comments:
0
What were the reasons to hand over network usage data without a sub-poena?
Rating:
5
Average:
5
(
11
votes)
Comments:
0
What influence, if any, did MIT exercise or could it have exercised in the plea negotiations? Did MIT really scuttle a plea bargain with no prison time?
Rating:
5
Average:
5
(
11
votes)
Comments:
0
Did anyone at MIT involved with any matter involving Aaron Swartz, violate an MIT policy in ignorance.
Rating:
4.75
Average:
4.8
(
8
votes)
Comments:
0
Did anyone at MIT put an obligation or consideration outside MIT policies, ahead of MIT policies?
Rating:
4.166665
Average:
4.2
(
6
votes)
Comments:
0
Did anyone at MIT have to choose between conflicting MIT policies in dealing with Aaron Swatz's actions and their aftermath? What were those policies? How can these conflicts be resolved?
Rating:
4.75
Average:
4.8
(
8
votes)
Comments:
0
At what point, and why, was the US Secret Service called in to investigate?
Rating:
4.68421
Average:
4.7
(
19
votes)
Comments:
0
Why did MIT personnel hand over data about Aaron (including DHCP logs and other intercepted network information) to the Secret Service, *without a warrant, court order, or subpoena?*
Rating:
4.27778
Average:
4.3
(
18
votes)
Comments:
0
Why did MIT hand over evidence to the government? Why didn't MIT just shut down the computer and instead set up a video camera? Were these actions illegal, under wiretapping laws?
Rating:
3.526315
Average:
3.5
(
19
votes)
Comments:
0
It would have been clear to anyone following the case that the government was treating Swartz unfairly. Why didn't MIT issue a public statement saying that they did not support the government charges against Swartz?
Rating:
4.52174
Average:
4.5
(
23
votes)
Comments:
0
Assuming that everyone did their jobs correctly, what were the point(s) at which MIT staff could have known or SHOULD HAVE KNOWN that Swartz would be faced with federal charges with penalties of decades in jail? Who had the option to stop this?
Rating:
4.57143
Average:
4.6
(
21
votes)
Comments:
0