I never met Aaron Swartz, but I've read his writing -- and used a lot of his code over the years. He will be missed. And perhaps someday our society will be better about catching depression before we lose more people this way.
A very fair comment. Despite the understandable concern about the pressures brought to bear by the DoJ, one shouldn't overlook his problems with depressive illness too.
An episode of depression (or malaise) is often triggered by an external event, such as an overreaching prosecutor trying to establish a name for themselves. I would be the last person to trivialize the impact of depression on one's life, but facing half a century in jail, enormous fines and legal fees, could send many people over the edge.
My gripe is the enorrmity of the punishment for a non-violent crime. I sat on a jury where the drive-by shooter got 11 years for murder. How then can we justify half a century of jail time for a non-violent crime where the victims do not wish to press charges?
I believe it was our Founding Father Benjamin Franklin who said, "That it is better 100 guilty Persons should escape than that one innocent Person should suffer."
The AG responsible to the case has finally responded. She now says that she recognized that Swartz was not acting for personal gain, and was seeking only a six month sentence in a low security facility. Some say this is contradicted by her earlier actions. It's also noted that she could have asked for probation.
Equally surprised I am with a half a century of jail to a 26 year-old person for something that, come on!...maybe it's better to keep my comments for myself about this case. But one thing I can tell you, half a century is the same as saying life prison.
What expectations can a human being have? At 26, when he could have had a life? How long did this person live after school? Yes, I blame people for his death. Changing stories now that is too late won't help anyone.
As you said, a murderer gets 11 years, many other real dangerous people are still free, and? What is just?
The FBI recently issued a warning to smartphone users, highlighting two mobile malware applications: Loozfan, which steals personal information, and FinFisher, which is spyware that takes over a smartphone's functions.
It wouldn't be the first time, but a group of Chinese engineers has proposed a means by which the Internet's root could be split, enabling secondary, independent networks that could be government-controlled. The Internet's root security committee is taking such proposals seriously.
Recently, security software supplier Kaspersky identified Win32.Flame as malicious code that seems to have been developed, not by hackers, but by government agencies. Warring nations may set aside their bombs and wage their wars online.
The plan for unmanned police drones to patrol traffic and other city conditions in Seattle has sparked a new set of legal concerns about privacy. Law traditionally lags technology, but we can expect now to see a new round of activity in the courts as legal definitions begin to emerge on what "next-gen privacy" will look like.
US counterterrorism expert Richard Clarke, who came to prominence with his prescient warnings before the 9/11 attacks, tells Smithsonian Magazine the US was responsible for the Stuxnet supersmart worm that attacked parts of nuclear reactors in Iran – and in the process, has given away one of the world's most sophisticated cyberweapons.
Malware designed to infect Google Android smartphones has increased dramatically, and now the government is stepping in. The National Security Agency has developed SE Android, a system that tries to close up its security holes.
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M2M: Rise of the Machines? Not Yet David Weldon In the 1970 science fiction thriller Colossus: The Forbin Project, two giant supercomputers from the United States and Soviet Union secretly join forces to take control of the collective nuclear might of the two countries. In the film, the two machines discover each other's existence, communicate back-and-forth, share their collective data, and cut their human creators out of the process. It is the ultimate example of machine-to-machine communications, or M2M. CLICK FOR MORE
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