[fthssht]

There ought to be a check against a DA pursuing a vastly unpopular prosecution or pursuing a case with highly disproportionate threats. The incentives are messed up. A DA spends public money going after a case that might be good for their career but is totally out of line with what the public wants. I'm sure many people would be happy to see him face some consequences for what he did to JSTOR but I bet they would be overwhelmingly opposed to threats of the magnitude he faced. The problems aren't limited to the CFAA many federal laws are very broad and anyone can become a target. The situation is almost as if we have bills of attainder. If your name appears in the newspaper a prosecutor can find something to pin on you and make threats that force a settlement and or cost you a fortune in legal fees.