He´s got a point. The kid was hounded and threatened with 30+ years in prison for downloading a bunch of journal articles from MIT. Well, I hope they´re all happy now, the prosecutors and the nimrods at MIT. What a crying shame.

As much as I blame the government for lots of things, Mr. Swartz´s suicide isn´t one of them.

Meanwhile when ever was one of the crimminals who unleash malware attacks, worms and viruses ever tracked down and prosecuted?

The Feds like going after easy targets for publicity.

I totally disagree with #2.
FTA: "Assistant US Attorney Steve Heymann in Boston was leading the probe. It was revealed yesterday that he also was the prosecutor pushing the 2008 hacking case against Jonathan James, 24, who wound up committing suicide, too."

However he died and whoever´s fault it was, one lesson from this is that it might be a bad idea to steal stuff.

Yup, a bad idea to steal and never ever get on the wrong side of the vindictive Feds.

I always think that suicide is about a choice. Many have had horrible pressures but it truly is sad that he chose despair.

In the meantime, my understanding is that Mr. Shartz was lifting information off MIT servers that were behind a paywall. He thought this information should be for free & yes, the info was for the most part public domain but others had compiled it using scanners, re-cataloged it and created a useful, more efficient product/service for others. This does have value, but Mr. Swartz decided it didn´t. I can´t decide if he was more from the Free Stuff crowd or OWS - but I do think he did not recognize Property Rights.

I think the government´s threats were out of proportion, but I would guess that Mr. Swartz with $$ to spend on great lawyers would have had his day in court.

Your son broke into computers and stole property. He was guilty.

does it occur to anyone that this may not have been suicide?

This kid stole info from MIT and died. The government has stolen trillions and there has not even been a hearing. Let´s at least have some perspective.

He was also a very public critic of Obama´s kill list and drone program. He wasn´t charged until he came out and started criticizing The Won and now he´s dead.

The guy had a history of depression and threatened suicide in the past. This isn´t an uncommon outcome for very bright children that aren´t allowed to be children. If anyone is to blame, it´s his family for not getting him the help he needed.

Let´s not forget the fact that he knowingly broke the law and flaunted it publicly. He had no one to blame for his arrest and trial but himself. He wasn´t targeted; he was stupid enough to brag about his great ´´skills.´´

#3, you do realize most of that originates overseas where the US has no judicial authority, don´t you?