To: cypherpunks@cpunks.org
Sent: Tuesday, December 31, 2013 2:54 PM
Subject: Re: Jacob Appelbaum in Germany
"James A. Donald"
>> As to Swartz he
didn't commit any real crime so he never was, or pretended
>> to be, 'above the law'.
>Accessing someone else's computers without permission to obtain the
>information therein is trespass. The powerful trespass against the less
>powerful. He had mistaken ideas about how powerful he was.
My understanding (from reading the Wikipedia article on Swartz an hour ago) was that he accessed "PACER" information. (
http://www.pacer.gov/ ) The information in PACER (which I have used a few times before, for example to access the docket for fake, forged, fraudulent "appeal" case 99-30210) is simply Federal court case files. (Dockets; filings). This material is legally in the public domain: It is not even copyrighted. I
don't know if Swartz did anything 'illegal' to get
into the computer that had the information, but I doubt that.
Incidentally, the charge for PACER documents is now $0.10 per page, but if you run up a charge of less than $15.00 in a calendar quarter, there is no charge. (In other words, less than 150 pages downloaded are free)
Jim Bell