How they treated Aaron was criminal, but let's do it justice by not using hyperbole.
This wasn't a public website. He connected to a networking switch in a controlled wiring closet with his laptop, and scraped information to non public servers from there.
Did this deserve the response he got though, absolutely not.
It was around 7 years, and that only if it went to trail and basically everything at the trial when the prosecutor's way [1]. If the plea bargain had been accepted it would have been around 6 months.
Here's a good article on how those ridiculously long, completely unrealistic, sentence claims come about so often for Federal cases [2].
>If the plea bargain had been accepted it would have been around 6 months.
I always love how people think the prision term is the only effect or punishment, 6 mos + a felony record for life which is not something that should be taken lightly.
Any felony conviction is a life sentence, you are a 2nd class citizen, you are denied everything from housing to employment, you are denied your rights as a citizen, can not vote, can not own a gun, can not do many things.
This moronic idea of "well it was really only 6mos" is bullshit.
Aaron robbed them of their prestige, that I think was his point. A big fuck you. You're not going to use me as your "example" of why you're such a fucking big shot. MIT failed us all and the powers that be are never going to apologize until apology is the only way to get elected.
This wasn't a public website. He connected to a networking switch in a controlled wiring closet with his laptop, and scraped information to non public servers from there.
Did this deserve the response he got though, absolutely not.