But he'd have been a felon, then. And unable to participate meaningfully in politics from "the inside", which I gather to have been his ultimate mission. Aaron was the ultimate white-knight, he wanted to go all the way to the White House and fix things from the inside. Of course, he'd have failed; systems like this aren't constructed, they *evolve* by surviving many white knights and adapting to them. Part of the defense system (according to my pet theory of corrupt-state-evolution) of a long-lived corruption is "wayside tempatations" in the form of seemingly unbelievable illegalities that are trivially assaulted on their basis, but which in so doing permanently remove someone from the establishment. In other words, as white knights rise through the system, they are increasingly tempted to use their expanding power and influence to attack problems within their reach, but when they do so they are picked off from the ladder of power, leaving their carefree sociopathic brethren to rise to power. In Aaron's case, he saw copyright and privatisation of publicly funded research as anathema, which of course it is. And being at that point of some power and influence for his tier of political clout, he felt he could use his academic ties to cover for his "Open Access Manifesto". In fact, he probably could have done, if MIT stood with him and referred to his work as research; I imagine he was surprised that they didn't. Other "wayside temptations" are things like criminalisation of piracy, drug war, institutional racism, censorship, surveillance, tax evasion by the wealthy and overtaxation of the poor. All of these and more are issues that, if addressed directly by a rising star, can either lead to felonies or criminalities, or merely an avenue by which to strip a person of their political viability by PR assault. To read several accounts by those who knew him well, it appears to me that Aaron wasn't trying to escape a long-or-short prison term, but the loss of any chance to pursue his dream of political reform through the supposedly-legitimate, electionary route. On 01/01/14 20:28, Jim Bell wrote:
No, I'm sorry, I have no links with other MIT alums.
One big misunderstanding that would have been able to clear up with aaron swartz had I been aware of his situation, that I hope other readers will now learn, is the issue of how much time he (or other federal defendants) would have faced if convicted. Federal criminal laws generally include with them a statement of the maximum punishment that can be applied: They are generally even numbers, such as "5 years", "10 years", "15 years" or so. However, such statements are basically archaic: In 1987, the laws were changed (prisoners called it "new law") to calculate sentences based on the defendant's criminal history, the severity of the crime, and other facts. See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_Federal_Sentencing_Guidelines
The following sentencing table is part of that Wikipedia article. I assume that Aaron Swartz would have had a "zero" "criminal history", in other words the Column labelled "I" (0 or 1) would have been used. An offense level up to 8 would have specified a sentence between 0 and 6 months. I would have to look up the specific charges to see what he faced, but I strongly doubt that he would have been sentenced to over 2 years, and probably under 1 year.
Jim Bell
================quote from Wikipedia begins================
Sentencing table The sentencing table is an integral part of the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines.[24] The Offense Level (1-43) forms the vertical axis of the Sentencing Table. The Criminal History Category (I-VI) forms the horizontal axis of the Table. The intersection of the Offense Level and Criminal History Category displays the Guideline Range in months of imprisonment. "Life" means life imprisonment. For example, the guideline range applicable to a defendant with an Offense Level of 15 and a Criminal History Category of III is 24–30 months of imprisonment. Sentencing Table (effective Nov. 2012) (showing months of imprisonment)[25][26] Offense Level ↓ Criminal History Category (Criminal History Points) I (0 or 1) II (2 or 3) III (4,5,6) IV (7,8,9) V (10,11,12) VI (13+) Zone A 10-6 0-6 0-6 0-6 0-6 0-6 20-6 0-6 0-6 0-6 0-6 1-7 30-6 0-6 0-6 0-6 2-8 3-9 40-6 0-6 0-6 2-8 4-10 6-12 50-6 0-6 1-7 4-10 6-12 9-15 60-6 1-7 2-8 6-12 9-15 12-18 70-6 2-8 4-10 8-14 12-18 15-21 80-6 4-10 6-12 10-16 15-21 18-24 Zone B 94-10 6-12 8-14 12-18 18-24 21-27 106-12 8-14 10-16 15-21 21-27 24-30 118-14 10-16 12-18 18-24 24-30 27-33 Zone C 1210-16 12-18 15-21 21-27 27-33 30-37 1312-18 15-21 18-24 24-30 30-37 33-41 Zone D 1415-21 18-24 21-27 27-33 33-41 37-46 1518-24 21-27 24-30 30-37 37-46 41-51 1621-27 24-30 27-33 33-41 41-51 46-57 1724-30 27-33 30-37 37-46 46-57 51-63 1827-33 30-37 33-41 41-51 51-63 57-71 1930-37 33-41 37-46 46-57 57-71 63-78 2033-41 37-46 41-51 51-63 63-78 70-87 2137-46 41-51 46-57 57-71 70-87 77-96 2241-51 46-57 51-63 63-78 77-96 84-105 2346-57 51-63 57-71 70-87 84-105 92-115 2451-63 57-71 63-78 77-96 92-115 100-125 2557-71 63-78 70-87 84-105 100-125 110-137 2663-78 70-87 78-97 92-115 110-137 120-150 2770-87 78-97 87-108 100-125 120-150 130-162 2878-97 87-108 97-121 110-137 130-162 140-175 2987-108 97-121 108-135 121-151 140-175 151-188 3097-121 108-135 121-151 135-168 151-188 168-210 31108-135 121-151 135-168 151-188 168-210 188-235 32121-151 135-168 151-188 168-210 188-235 210-262 33135-168 151-188 168-210 188-235 210-262 235-293 34151-188 168-210 188-235 210-262 235-293 262-327 35168-210 188-235 210-262 235-293 262-327 292-365 36188-235 210-262 235-293 262-327 292-365 324-405 37210-262 235-293 262-327 292-365 324-405 360-life 38235-293 262-327 292-365 324-405 360-life 360-life 39262-327 292-365 324-405 360-life 360-life 360-life 40292-365 324-405 360-life 360-life 360-life 360-life 41324-405 360-life 360-life 360-life 360-life 360-life 42360-life 360-life 360-life 360-life 360-life 360-life 43life life life life life life
________________________________ From: Cari Machet <carimachet@gmail.com> To: Jim Bell <jamesdbell8@yahoo.com> Cc: "cypherpunks@cpunks.org" <cypherpunks@cpunks.org>; "lists@silent1.net" <lists@silent1.net> Sent: Wednesday, January 1, 2014 1:04 AM Subject: Re: Jacob Appelbaum in Germany
I sincerely wish you could have helped aaron it is all beyond sad and though some of his projects are being carried out i think we have to do more - Yes I am aware you are an alumni - do u have connections with other alumni ? We think the alumni are a pressure point they cld not ignore
Will connect with you further as the project progresses
Thanks very very much
Sent from my iPhone
On 31.12.2013, at 20:59, Jim Bell <jamesdbell8@yahoo.com> wrote:
I am an alum of MIT (Class of 1980; Chemistry). I've just read the Wikipedia article on Aaron Swartz, and I am very sympathetic to him. I wish I'd been aware of his situation while he was alive; I might have been able to help, and would have tried to do so.
Jim Bell
________________________________ From: Cari Machet <carimachet@gmail.com> To: Silent1 <lists@silent1.net> Cc: cpunks <cypherpunks@cpunks.org> Sent: Tuesday, December 31, 2013 8:03 AM Subject: Re: Jacob Appelbaum in Germany
dear sir
we are reaching out to MIT alumni to make a public call of outrage re among other things the aaron swartz treatment by MIT would u b willing to b included?
specifically we would b asking for shifts in functionality not just complaining to the bricks
THANKS
On 12/31/13, Silent1 <lists@silent1.net> wrote:
Ahh, Dogecoin, didn't an online wallet service of theirs get hacked last week and completely cleaned out of hundreds of thousands of coins?
-----Original Message----- From: cypherpunks [mailto:cypherpunks-bounces@cpunks.org] On Behalf Of coderman Sent: Tuesday, December 31, 2013 8:51 AM To: Griffin Boyce Cc: cpunks Subject: Re: Jacob Appelbaum in Germany
On Tue, Dec 31, 2013 at 12:32 AM, Griffin Boyce <griffin@cryptolab.net> wrote:
... I prefer my shared hallucinations to be in the form of Lindens [1], ...
i'll let you cypherpunks in on a secret financial tip: the smart money banks in dogecoin: http://dogecoin.com/
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