[governance] Bloomberg - The Overzealous Prosecution of Aaron Swartz

[John Curran]

On Jan 19, 2013, at 6:18 AM, Riaz K Tayob <riaz.tayob at gmail.com> wrote:

> [The Panglossian world of US Exceptionalism.... of course these matters are discussed and debated, but dare to do anything about it and then those will be put in their place, or no?]
> 
> The Overzealous Prosecution of Aaron Swartz
> By Stephen L. Carter Jan 18, 2013 1:30 AM GMT+0200
> ...


Riaz - 
 
A very good question; I personally don't subscribe to a view of US Exceptionalism 
(that's likely because I've travelled a bit and can more readily make comparisons),
but do see a system that excels at incremental improvement.   In this particular
case, I do believe that the particular statute used in Swartz's prosecution will be
amended to be more reasonable (see my earlier ICG posting reference to Time's
article on same by Sam Gustin)

Regarding the larger question raised by Carter's article, it is a bit more complex than 
depicted, since lowering the qualified immunity for prosecutors (as a way of raising the 
threshold to pursue cases), may also, if not very carefully done, incidentally raise the 
threshold for being able to _drop a case_ (i.e. the potential result where some form 
of conviction must be obtained less the prosecutor face increased personal liability) 
Change in this area would definitely benefit from informed discourse, and to the extent 
that one can claim that happens among US lawmakers, then perhaps someday there 
will be some productive outcome on this larger question as well...

FYI,
/John

Disclaimers:  My personal views alone.  No pursuit of action against anyone is intended
by this email; parties feeling overly prosecuted as a result should seek medical care for 
potential mental health issues.

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