The petitions were not linked in the original comment. I am not, in this thread, discussing the petitions. That is why I did not reply to the comments that link to the petition. I want to know the rationale behind promulgating (as it were) the aforementioned list.
Well, even if it's only very slightly effective in incurring a social cost on the involved parties via informing people whose political careers to keep an eye on, it's certainly unlikely to be less effective than not posting such a list, all else being equal.
Link
One of us is no more.
He deserves a eulogy more eloquent than what I am capable of writing. Here's Cory Doctorow's, one of his long time friends.
It's a sad world in which you are being arrested and grand jury'd for downloading scientific journals and papers with the intent to share them.