Liberty Minute

August 16 2013

Totalitarian regimes are often lenient in dealing with offenders who commit crimes against persons and property ? but they are pitiless in punishing political dissidents.

This explains why the Regime in Washington went after the late Aaron Swartz with such ferocity. Swartz was a potentially revolutionary figure in what he described as the cause of freedom of information. The hacker downloaded millions of academic documents from JSTOR, an expensive digital library operated by MIT. JSTOR declined to pursue charges after Swartz returned the files. The so-called Justice Department, however, filed criminal charges against Swartz that could have resulted in 35 years in prison and $1 million in fines. This led the 26-year-old to commit suicide.

US Attorney Stephen Heyman, the lead federal prosecutor in the case, had proposed a plea deal in which Swartz would serve a few months in prison. He admits that he withdrew that proposal and demanded the equivalent of a life sentence because Swartz and his followers mounted an internet campaign to build support for the defendant. This means that the draconian sentence was intended as punishment for a political offense ? and also to terrorize other potential dissidents into submission.

Let us take back the liberty wherewith Christ has made us free.