Former Reddit programming guru Aaron Swartz has been charged with hacking the archive system at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and stealing over 4 million documents.
Swartz allegedly broke into a wiring closet to access MIT’s network and download works from JSTOR, a digital archive of academic works.
“Stealing is stealing, whether you use a computer command or a crowbar, and whether you take documents, data, or dollars,” U.S. Attorney Carmen Ortiz said in a statement. “It is equally harmful to the victim whether you sell what you have stolen or give it away.”
The 24-year programmer was charged in an indictment with wire fraud, computer fraud, unlawfully obtaining information from a protected computer, and recklessly damaging a protected computer.