[jstevens85]

If he accepted the plea bargain of six months, then the case wouldn't have gone to trial, avoiding the excessive legal fees. I don't understand the timeline, but had he accepted the plea bargain, is it not possible that he would have already served his sentence by now?

[BrokenPipe]

Maybe. The point is that you shouldn't submit to 6 months of federal prison without trial or appeal, all the money loss for the two years in the case and your life ruined by the felony counts records for using a script to download files you already have legal access to. At worst all there is to this is trespassing, on an open campus on an open network etc etc.

[mbesto]

You're probably right, you shouldn't, but unless you offer up a better suggestion for a law system, it is it what it is.

[peteretep]

How about the one the rest of the civilized world uses? Which is: not mixing politics and prosecution.

Check out the British version of government prosecutions: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crown_Prosecution_Service

Where "controversial" is "oooh, should we change the name?!?".

[BrokenPipe]

The american system is one of the worst in western society, granted, but the British one is not that much better at all. Some claim is worst. I never had the misfortune of having to try that on my skin but heard from friends and family.

How's the system in Iceland ? Or Norway ?

[BrokenPipe]

Yeah, no more crazy law and no bargaining on future lives.

[jacquesm]

> avoiding the excessive legal fees.

From all the information that I've seen so far it looks as if the legal fees were plenty excessive already.