David Spalding

Authored Comments

<em>Are you saying when he entered the closet and plugged something into a switch,... [Swartz] was so naive he didn’t know it was wrong?</em>

No, I'm not saying that. ... And I think he is capable of understanding exactly what he was doing. Whether he was conscious of the legal risks, I have no idea.

<em>Are you saying he did not think he was stealing when he accessed the MIT network with a false name?</em>

No, I'm not saying that. ... I have no knowledge of his frame of mind or thoughts while allegedly performing the acts cited in the charges.

<em>Are you saying that stealing is OK if force is not used?</em>

Wait for it ... no, I am absolutely not saying that either. ;) I think if you reread my comments, you'll understand that I was questioning if it's an illegal intrusion even if no "forced entry" techniques (e.g. cracking passwords, bypassing proxies or firewalls, using SQL injection techniques to insert code into a server, etc.) are utilized.

<em>I guess if you are saying those things, then maybe it’s unfair that he is prosecuted.</em>

I'm not asserting any of the points you asked about.

<em>So perhaps you think 100K was too high a bail? </em>

I don't think I meant to imply or state that. My understanding is that bail is set based on a variety of factors, including the flight risk of the defendant, the financial ability of the defendant to skip bail (think OJ Simpson, Dominique Strauss-Kahn, et), etc. I am not a lawyer, so there is more that I don't know about the bail setting process than I do.