A rule (called prosecutorial immunity) without which it would be almost impossible for the criminal law to function. Would you prosecute Bernie Madoff knowing he could tie you up in court, personally, with millions of…
You should look more closely at the history. RSS (at least, the branch of it that people use), CC, and Reddit would have exactly the same form they have today - exactly! - without Aaron's involvement.
It reads like a parody of journalism.
I don't know anything about the Smith case, and I am not saying you (and Cullen) are wrong to draw the comparison and ask questions about it. However, it is very difficult to make this kind of backseat-driver judgment.…
I saw that too and read the Standard Law Review article. He is not credited it in. He may have helped a law student write a Python script, which she then used. The article does mention that a Python script was used to…
What exactly is Boyle's argument? He rehashes the now-typical hagiography. Then he seems to argue that should influence legal policy. This is wrong for two reasons. One, the hagiography is factually wrong, no matter how…
"Crime" often relies on "pre-crime." The legal definition of "burglary" is breaking into a building with an intent to steal or commit another serious crime. Prosecutors have to decide whether they think they can prove…
Google: site:http://www.justice.gov "if convicted, * faces" 57,700 results. There are many things to criticize about the universe, but the standard form language on US Attorneys' press releases is probably not the…
I just read this linked article and think it is excellent and very thoughtful. It is much more human than any of Lessig or Doctorow's self-serving comments, and it fits with my recollection of the history. I mean,…
"This makes me wonder whether your senses have been dulled by taking too much of that standard practice for granted." Yes, that is totally fair. I have been thinking hard recently about the role of gradual change vs.…
Bingo. I've been trying not to say petty things out of respect for recently departed people and his family, with whom I sympathize for this terrible, terrible thing. But the radical loss of perspective here is just…
But that's ridiculous. The only thing that made this case big news was his death. It's worth reading over old HN threads on the criminal case. The consensus was pretty close to my position now, which is that…
Look, I guess you have no reason to believe me, but this is just not how the US government works. There's no staffer in the Administrative Office of the courts who's upset at Aaron and tells the United States Attorney…
The alleged crime WAS NOT merely violating the terms of service of a website. People really need to study the law before critiquing it.
If the government couldn't prove beyond a reasonable doubt that he intended to distribute the public-domain part of the archive, he would have won the largest part of his case, or at least received a very minimal…
If you think US Attys prosecute people because they organize peacefully against copyright laws, you're living in a different world from the real one.
"If it were only a '6 month low security setting' being discussed, why wouldn't Aaron have been told of this?" He was told. If you can even imagine that he wasn't, you need better news sources. This kind of anti-reality…
No, no. Some of the articles were in the public domain, but not all of them. (The precise ratio could have been a relevant fact at sentencing for some of the charges, because it would speak to the monetary value of what…
Well, it's not true either way. But that too is very rare. There's just too much risk with it, and it's not how most nontechies think. Look what actually happened in this case: Ortiz's husband issued an ill-thought-out,…
Maybe. It's the administrative system we've got, though, and we should be talking about how to reform the whole thing. Note how much Orin Kerr recently agreed with the points I made days ago here on this subject.
To a center-left lawyer like me, this piece sparks the same concerns and the same dismissiveness that I feel when I read Tea Party rants.
This "TOS" stuff is another red herring. Even the EFF said the new proposed change in that law wouldn't have stopped the charges in this case. This case was about more than doing something that JSTOR told users not to…
Archive.org has the whole docket. It used to be a reference on his Wikipedia page, but it looks like it's not there anymore. You can find it in the history.
I haven't looked into the details, but "new technology" means something different to the public than it means to us. Publicizing a valuable database sounds like it's in their mandate.
"Can I be prosecuted and sent to prison for it?" Probably not, but even if so, this is where prosecutorial discretion comes in. This is what people aren't understanding. If you avoid a channel ban, or sign up as "Mickey…
A rule (called prosecutorial immunity) without which it would be almost impossible for the criminal law to function. Would you prosecute Bernie Madoff knowing he could tie you up in court, personally, with millions of…
You should look more closely at the history. RSS (at least, the branch of it that people use), CC, and Reddit would have exactly the same form they have today - exactly! - without Aaron's involvement.
It reads like a parody of journalism.
I don't know anything about the Smith case, and I am not saying you (and Cullen) are wrong to draw the comparison and ask questions about it. However, it is very difficult to make this kind of backseat-driver judgment.…
I saw that too and read the Standard Law Review article. He is not credited it in. He may have helped a law student write a Python script, which she then used. The article does mention that a Python script was used to…
What exactly is Boyle's argument? He rehashes the now-typical hagiography. Then he seems to argue that should influence legal policy. This is wrong for two reasons. One, the hagiography is factually wrong, no matter how…
"Crime" often relies on "pre-crime." The legal definition of "burglary" is breaking into a building with an intent to steal or commit another serious crime. Prosecutors have to decide whether they think they can prove…
Google: site:http://www.justice.gov "if convicted, * faces" 57,700 results. There are many things to criticize about the universe, but the standard form language on US Attorneys' press releases is probably not the…
I just read this linked article and think it is excellent and very thoughtful. It is much more human than any of Lessig or Doctorow's self-serving comments, and it fits with my recollection of the history. I mean,…
"This makes me wonder whether your senses have been dulled by taking too much of that standard practice for granted." Yes, that is totally fair. I have been thinking hard recently about the role of gradual change vs.…
Bingo. I've been trying not to say petty things out of respect for recently departed people and his family, with whom I sympathize for this terrible, terrible thing. But the radical loss of perspective here is just…
But that's ridiculous. The only thing that made this case big news was his death. It's worth reading over old HN threads on the criminal case. The consensus was pretty close to my position now, which is that…
Look, I guess you have no reason to believe me, but this is just not how the US government works. There's no staffer in the Administrative Office of the courts who's upset at Aaron and tells the United States Attorney…
The alleged crime WAS NOT merely violating the terms of service of a website. People really need to study the law before critiquing it.
If the government couldn't prove beyond a reasonable doubt that he intended to distribute the public-domain part of the archive, he would have won the largest part of his case, or at least received a very minimal…
If you think US Attys prosecute people because they organize peacefully against copyright laws, you're living in a different world from the real one.
"If it were only a '6 month low security setting' being discussed, why wouldn't Aaron have been told of this?" He was told. If you can even imagine that he wasn't, you need better news sources. This kind of anti-reality…
No, no. Some of the articles were in the public domain, but not all of them. (The precise ratio could have been a relevant fact at sentencing for some of the charges, because it would speak to the monetary value of what…
Well, it's not true either way. But that too is very rare. There's just too much risk with it, and it's not how most nontechies think. Look what actually happened in this case: Ortiz's husband issued an ill-thought-out,…
Maybe. It's the administrative system we've got, though, and we should be talking about how to reform the whole thing. Note how much Orin Kerr recently agreed with the points I made days ago here on this subject.
To a center-left lawyer like me, this piece sparks the same concerns and the same dismissiveness that I feel when I read Tea Party rants.
This "TOS" stuff is another red herring. Even the EFF said the new proposed change in that law wouldn't have stopped the charges in this case. This case was about more than doing something that JSTOR told users not to…
Archive.org has the whole docket. It used to be a reference on his Wikipedia page, but it looks like it's not there anymore. You can find it in the history.
I haven't looked into the details, but "new technology" means something different to the public than it means to us. Publicizing a valuable database sounds like it's in their mandate.
"Can I be prosecuted and sent to prison for it?" Probably not, but even if so, this is where prosecutorial discretion comes in. This is what people aren't understanding. If you avoid a channel ban, or sign up as "Mickey…