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   Tiago Peixoto (tiago@social.skewed.de)'s status on Monday, 09-Mar-2026 02:34:14 JST Tiago Peixoto

   In 2013 Aaron Swartz committed suicide for facing 35 years in prison for mass downloading scientific articles.

   13 years later, Meta is almost getting away with an infraction orders of magnitude larger.

   The law didn't change.

   https://torrentfreak.com/uploading-pirated-books-via-bittorrent-qualifies-as-fair-use-meta/

   • Embed this notice
     Johnny Peligro (mischievoustomato@tsundere.love)'s status on Monday, 09-Mar-2026 07:26:11 JST Johnny Peligro

     in reply to

     • :suya:
     @newt @tiago that makes him seem much more of a dramatic tard
   • Embed this notice
     :suya: (newt@stereophonic.space)'s status on Monday, 09-Mar-2026 07:26:13 JST :suya:

     in reply to
     @tiago he didn't face 35 years. He faced 4 to 6 months with a plea deal offered to him, but chose to hang himself instead.
   • Embed this notice
     翠星石 (suiseiseki@freesoftwareextremist.com)'s status on Monday, 09-Mar-2026 19:08:37 JST 翠星石

     in reply to
     @tiago Downloading files is not even an infraction.
     
     Meanwhile, distribution, even if merely part of bittorrent, is copyright infringement, let alone mass copyright infringement for profit (which meta got away with, since courts just give big companies what such want).
   • Embed this notice
     翠星石 (suiseiseki@freesoftwareextremist.com)'s status on Monday, 09-Mar-2026 19:12:22 JST 翠星石

     in reply to

     • :suya:
     @newt @tiago The public prosecutor was pretty much torturing him (what courts do) and it's not uncommon for those under such pressure to decide to hang themselves.
     
     He faced 35 years or a dubious plea deal that required confessing guilt to the claims (I figure a plea deal could just not be honored).