BOSTON — The Massachusetts Institute of Technology didn’t seek the federal prosecution of free-information activist Aaron Swartz and remained neutral throughout his legal case, according to an internal review of the school’s actions.
The 26-year-old hanged himself in January as he faced a trial in Boston following allegations that he surreptitiously used MIT’s network to download millions of articles from a scholarly archive with the goal of making them freely available.
But Swartz’s father, Robert, said in a statement Tuesday that the report showed MIT wasn’t neutral and “played a central role in Aaron’s suicide.”
He said the school favored the prosecution by providing access to witnesses that the defense didn’t get and by handing over information without subpoenas.
Aaron Swartz had been facing 13 felony charges and decades behind bars when he committed suicide in New York City, and supporters said the case was weighing heavily on him at the time.
