Report  to  the  President   MIT  and  the  Prosecution  of  Aaron  Swartz           Review  Panel   Harold  Abelson   Peter  A.  Diamond   Andrew  Grosso   Douglas  W.  Pfeiffer  (support)     July  26,  2013 ©  Copyright  2013,  Massachusetts  Institute  of  Technology       This  work  is  licensed  under  a  Creative  Commons  Attribution  3.0  Unported  License. PRESIDENT  REIF’S  CHARGE  TO  HAL  ABELSON      |      iii     L. Rafael Reif, President 77 Massachusetts Avenue, Building 3-208 Cambridge, MA 02139-4307 U.S.A. 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 iii   INTRODUCTION  ............................................................................................................................  11   PART  I:   EVENTS  LEADING  TO  THE  ARREST  ................................................................................  16   I.A   Downloading  of  JSTOR  Articles  ..........................................................................  16   I.B   Discovery  of  the  Laptop  ......................................................................................  20   I.C   Events  of  January  6,  2011:  The  Arrest  ................................................................  24   I.D   Events  of  January  6,  2011:  Seizure  of  the  Laptop  ..............................................  25   I.E   Access  to  the  MIT  Network  ................................................................................  26   I.E.1   Connecting  to  the  MIT  network  ...............................................................  26   I.E.2   JSTOR  and  eControl  ..................................................................................  27   PART  II:   BACKGROUND  ON  AARON  SWARTZ  AND  LEGAL  EVENTS     FOLLOWING  THE  ARREST  ..............................................................................................  29   II.A   Background  on  Aaron  Swartz  .............................................................................  29   II.A.1   Aaron  Swartz  in  Cambridge  ....................................................................  30   II.A.2   Possible  motives  for  downloading  ..........................................................  31   II.B   The  Prosecutions  and  the  Legal  Defense:  An  Overview  ....................................  34   II.B.1   The  state  prosecution  .............................................................................  35   II.B.2   The  federal  prosecution  ..........................................................................  36   II.B.3   Plea  discussions  during  the  federal  prosecution  ....................................  38   II.B.4   Motions  to  suppress  ...............................................................................  41   II.C   Aaron  Swartz’s  Settlement  with  JSTOR  .............................................................  41   PART  III:  MIT’S  RESPONSE  TO  THE  PROSECUTION  (JANUARY  2011–JANUARY  2013)  ...............  44   III.A   Events  between  the  Arrest  and  the  Indictment  (January  2011–July  2011)  ......  48   III.A.1   MIT  provides  information  to  the  USAO  (January  2011–April  2011)  .......  49   III.A.2   MIT  is  informed  about  the  prosecution  (March  2011–June  2011)  ........  51   III.A.3   MIT  adopts  and  maintains  a  posture  of  neutrality  .................................  52   III.A.4   MIT  discusses  possible  public  statements  with  JSTOR  (June  2011)  .......  56 CONTENTS      |      v     III.B   Events  around  the  Time  of  the  Indictment  (April  2011–September  2011)  .......  58   III.B.1   Early  overtures  to  MIT  in  support  of  Aaron  Swartz     (April  2011–June  2011)  ..........................................................................  59   III.B.2   The  indictment:  Unauthorized  access  ....................................................  60   III.B.3   MIT  as  “victim”  .......................................................................................  62   III.B.4   Robert  Swartz  meets  with  MIT’s  Chancellor  ..........................................  62   III.C   MIT’s  Contacts  with  Prosecution  and  Defense     (October  2011–September  2012)  .......................................................................  64   III.C.1   Responses  to  defense  inquiries  are  slow  (May  2012–August  2012)  ......  64   III.C.2   Robert  Swartz  writes  to  MIT’s  President  ................................................  66   III.C.3   MIT’s  outside  counsel  speaks  with  the  lead  prosecutor     (August  9,  2012)  .....................................................................................  67   III.C.4   Robert  Swartz  meets  again  with  MIT  (September  2012)  .......................  69   III.C.5   Other  contacts  on  behalf  of  Aaron  Swartz  .............................................  70   III.D   Events  in  Anticipation  of  Trial  (August  2012–October  2012)  ............................  72   III.D.1   The  defense  asks  MIT  to  oppose  jail  time     (September  2012–October  2012)  ..........................................................  73   III.D.2   The  defense  moves  to  suppress  evidence  (October  2012)  ....................  74   III.D.3   Effect  of  the  suppression  motions  (October  2012–December  2012)  ....  76   III.D.4   Final  weeks  (December  2012–January  2013)  .........................................  77   PART  IV:  DECISION  POINTS  FOR  MIT  ...........................................................................................  80   IV.A   The  Investigation  and  the  Immediate  Post-­‐arrest  Period  .................................  81   IV.A.1   Locating  the  laptop  and  performing  a  packet  scan  ................................  81   IV.A.2   Informing  the  MIT  Police  and  notifying  the  Cambridge  Police  ...............  82   IV.A.3   Providing  information  to  law  enforcement  pre-­‐subpoena  ....................  82   IV.B   Neutrality:  Issuing  Statements;  Providing  Information  to     Prosecution  and  Defense  ...................................................................................  83   IV.B.1   Issuing  public  statements  about  whether  to  prosecute  .........................  84   IV.B.2   Issuing  public  statements  about  the  criminal  charges  ...........................  85   IV.B.3   Making  private  statements  to  the  prosecution  about  the     criminal  charges  .....................................................................................  85   IV.B.4   Providing  prosecution  and  defense  with  documents  and     access  to  MIT  employees  .......................................................................  86   IV.B.5   Taking  non-­‐neutral  positions  for  people  with  MIT  associations  ............  87 CONTENTS      |      vi     IV.B.6   Becoming  more  informed  about  the  charges  ........................................  87   IV.B.7   Engaging  more  deeply  with  issues  around  the  Computer  Fraud     and  Abuse  Act  ........................................................................................  88   PART  V:   QUESTIONS  FOR  THE  MIT  COMMUNITY  ......................................................................  89   Question  1:   Should  MIT  develop  additional  on-­‐campus  expertise     for  handling  potential  computer  crime  incidents,  thus     giving  the  Institute  more  flexibility  in  formulating  its     responses?    ............................................................................................  90   Question  2:   Should  MIT  policies  on  the  collection,  provision,  and     retention  of  electronic  records  be  reviewed?  ......................................  92   Question  3:     Should  an  MIT  education  address  the  personal  ethics     and  legal  obligations  of  technology  empowerment?  ...........................  92   Question  4:     Should  MIT  increase  its  efforts  to  bring  its  considerable     technical  expertise  and  leadership  to  bear  on  the  study     of  legal,  policy,  and  societal  impact  of  information  and   communications  technology?  ...............................................................  93   Question  5:     What  are  MIT’s  institutional  interests  in  the  debate  over     reforming  the  Computer  Fraud  and  Abuse  Act?  ...................................  94   Question  6:   Should  MIT  strengthen  its  activities  in  support  of  open     access  to  scholarly  publications?  ..........................................................  95   Question  7:     What  are  MIT’s  obligations  to  members  of  our     extended  community?  ...........................................................................  96   Question  8:     How  can  MIT  draw  lessons  for  its  hacker  culture  from     this  experience?  .....................................................................................  97   CONCLUSION  ..............................................................................................................................  100   APPENDICES  ................................................................................................................................  102   Appendix  1:   Letter  to  the  MIT  Community  from  President  Reif  .............................  103   Appendix  2:   Letter  from  Hal  Abelson  to  the  MIT  Community  ................................  104   Appendix  3:   Review  Panel  Members  .......................................................................  106   Appendix  4:   Processes  Followed  in  Preparing  This  Report  .....................................  108   4.A   Criterion  for  Naming  Individuals  ..........................................................  108   4.B   Documents  Examined  ..........................................................................  109   4.C   Process  for  MIT  Privileged  Documents  ................................................  109 CONTENTS      |      vii     4.D   People  Interviewed  ..............................................................................  109   4.E   Review  Process  for  Publishing  This  Report  ..........................................  111   Appendix  5:   Timeline  of  Events  ...............................................................................  112   Appendix  6:   JSTOR  and  the  MIT  Libraries  ................................................................  116   Appendix  7:   Records  Produced  by  MIT  to  Law  Enforcement  ..................................  118   7.A   Network  Flow  Data  Logs  ......................................................................  118   7.B   Dynamic  Host  Configuration  Protocol  (DHCP)  Server  Logs  ..................  118   7.C   RADIUS  Server  Logs  ..............................................................................  120   7.D   Network  Registration  Database  ...........................................................  120   7.E   Packet  Stream  ......................................................................................  121   Appendix  8:   MIT  and  Open  Access  Publishing  ........................................................  122   8.A   Open  Educational  Resources:  OpenCourseWare  .................................  122   8.B   Open  Repository  Software:  DSpace  .....................................................  122   8.C   Open  Access  to  MIT  Scholarly  Publications  ..........................................  123   8.D   Massive  Open  Online  Courses:  MITx  and  edX  ......................................  123   Appendix  9:   Some  Prior  Relevant  Incidents  at  MIT  ................................................  124   9.A   David  LaMacchia  (1994)  .......................................................................  124   9.B   Andrew  Huang  (2002)  ..........................................................................  126   9.C   Star  Simpson  (2007)  .............................................................................  127   Appendix  10:  Legal  Analysis  of  MIT’s  Provision  of  Documents     and  Packet  Capture  .............................................................................  129   10.A   The  Federal  Laws  Protecting  Electronic  Communications  ...................  129   10.A.1   The  electronic  communications  were  lawfully  disclosed  ........  130   10.A.2   The  metadata  was  lawfully  disclosed  ......................................  132   10.B   Massachusetts  Law  Regarding  Electronic  Communications  ................  132   10.C   Document  Production  ..........................................................................  133   Appendix  11:  Comments  on  the  Computer  Fraud  and  Abuse  Act     Charges  against  Aaron  Swartz  .............................................................  135   11.A   Exceeding  Authorized  Access  ...............................................................  135   11.B   Unauthorized  Access  ............................................................................  137   11.C   Losses  Exceeding  Five  Thousand  Dollars  ..............................................  139   Appendix  12:  Letter  from  JSTOR  to  Its  Publishers  .....................................................  141 CONTENTS      |      viii     Appendix  13:  Legal  Procedure  and  Practice  in  Criminal     Investigations  and  Prosecutions  .........................................................  142   13.A   The  U.S.  Department  of  Justice  and  the  United  States  Attorneys  .......  142   13.B   The  Investigative  Agencies  ...................................................................  143   13.C   The  Federal  Criminal  Investigation:  Pre-­‐indictment  .............................  144   13.D   The  Arrest  .............................................................................................  146   13.E   Investigations,  Discovery,  and  the  Asymmetric  Nature  of  Criminal   Litigation  ...............................................................................................  147   13.F   Interviews  and  Compliance  with  Subpoenas  .......................................  149   13.G   Pretrial  Motions  and  Hearings  .............................................................  150   13.H   The  Status  of  “Victims”  in  Federal  Prosecutions  ..................................  151   Appendix  14:  Questions  from  the  MIT  Community  ..................................................  153   Appendix  15:  Glossary  ...............................................................................................  162   ILLUSTRATIONS   Map  1.  The  MIT  Central  Campus  ....................................................................................  ix   Map  2.  The  Central  Square  Area  of  Cambridge  ..............................................................  x ILLUSTRATIONS      |      ix     Albany Street The person who was seen on video entering Building 16 network closet is noticed and followed by MIT Police (1/6/11) Vassar Street Vassar Street M a s sa Laptop connected to a switch in c a network closet is discovered h u by MIT IS&T (1/4/11) s e t t Stratton Bldg s Student Center A 16 v W20 e n u e Laptop first discovered in Building 16 is found connected to network port in SIPB offices and taken as evidence by MIT Police (1/6/11) Killian Court Memorial Drive Map  1.  The  MIT  Central  Campus ILLUSTRATIONS      |      x       Lee Street ACeanrotrna Sl Swqauratzr ea,r Creasmtebdr indegaer (1/6/11) Massachusetts Avenue The person who was seen on video entering Building 16 network closet is noticed and followed by MIT Police (1/6/11) Massachusetts AvenueVassar Street Massachusetts 16 Institute of Technology W20 Map  2.  The  Central  Square  Area  of  Cambridge