"thief - one who takes the property of another wrongfully."
Aaron was associated with Harvard and had proper access to JSTOR through that institution.
What amazes me is that the CFAA was brought into action here. It is only supposed to apply to government systems, not any computer the DOJ points to.
I have dealt with the federal judicial system and it is anything but fair. How could it be, when the mere act of wanting a trial by jury mandates extra time at sentencing? Oh and that 6 month plea deal? A federal judge could have tossed that out the window and said "You will be serving 35 years, Mr. Swartz..."
BTW here is JSTOR's take on this, and they "deeply regret" being dragged into this SNAFU by DOJ.
http://about.jstor.org/statement-swartz 
