Re: Re: 'Free Culture' Advocate May Pay High Price

On Tue, July 26, 2011 5:26 am, Daniel P. B. Smith wrote:

> Before launching into the usual rant ...

1. I agree with virtually 100% of your rant.

but...

2. Reading the actual article, it appears that the one thing Mr. Swartz is
/not/ charged with is copying anything. If the Times can still be trusted
(it's hard to know these days), Mr. Swartz has been charged with "wire fraud,
computer fraud, unlawfully obtaining information from a protected computer and
recklessly damaging a protected computer." No allegation of copyright
infringement.

My suspicion is that if any convictions come of these charges they will be
based on trespass, unauthorized access to network wiring, and possible
unintentional damages arising from these actions, and not a result of merely
collecting that which can be otherwise freely downloaded, even if eventually
made available through other means.

Believers in "intellectual property" (of which I am not one) are quick to jump
on this case as a demonstration of the fruits of unauthorized copying, but I
think that that is just an invented boogeyman here.

Attention to detail is important.



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