The guy hired by the defense says he's innocent. This is not surprising, but not particularly probative.

The feds have had some troubles, for sure. But that doesn't mean they acted badly in this particular case.

I'm not talking about whether this was good prosecutorial judgment; that's a much longer discussion. But did they prosecute a guy who committed the crimes charged? I think so.

Professor Orin Kerr, arguably the number one guy in computer crimes - and one of the lawyers for Lori Drew for whom he worked pro bono - says these were pretty clearly crimes.

Swartz' friend (and lawprof and sometime legal advisor) Larry Lessig - who has blasted the prosecution for overzealousness - acknowledges that Swartz' activities regarding JSTOR were wrong, and seemed to imply they were legal wrongs.

Outside of my main point, it's a tragedy that Swartz is dead. His brilliance is cut short, and it sucks.