MIT to release redacted Aaron Swartz documents

The Massachusetts institute of Technology will release documents related to the case against activist Aaron Swartz but it will edit out names and other information, according to a letter from MIT president Rafael Reif to the MIT community. That will probably not be enough to satisfy Swartz’s legal team and other backers.

Whiteboard set up at MIT Media Lab for Aaron Swartz memorial.

Late last week, lawyers for Swartz, the 26-year old programmer and civic activist who killed himself in January, requested that these documents be released to the public. Swartz’s father Robert Swartz, partner Taren Stinebrickner-Kauffman and his lawyers maintain that Swartz was railroaded by both MIT and the U.S. Attorney’s office, which prosecuted him on criminal charges for downloading too many documents from MIT’s JSTOR database.

In the letter, Reif said MIT remains committed to openness but needs to protect the privacy of individuals mentioned in the documents and the security of the school’s networks. He acknowledged that Swartz’s lawyers expressly requested that no names be excluded or redacted. But, he wrote:

“In the time since Aaron Swartz’s suicide, we have seen a pattern of harassment and personal threats. In this volatile atmosphere, I have the responsibility to protect the privacy and safety of those members of our community who have become involved in this matter in the course of doing their jobs for MIT, and to ensure a safe environment for all of us who call MIT home.”

The full text of the letter is also on pastebin. A few weeks after Swartz’s death, MIT named Hal Abelson, a professor emeritus of computer science, to head up an inquiry into the school’s role in this matter, but at a memorial service for Swartz last week at MIT’s Media Lab Stinbrickner-Kauffman expressed skepticism about the process, saying she feared a PR whitewash. /