attorney in massachusetts carmen ortiz is office it is the product of a criminal justice system rife with intimidation and prosecutorial overreach that is a quote from lawrence lessig and that's the headline for this piece on. read by digg be a member hullabaloo by the way she named it hullabaloo her site because one function of blogs is to cause a ruckus now remember this is part of the shutting down of the american mind is they don't like ruckus they don't like you know troublemakers they don't like any little inconvenience in their life now she says the behavior exhibited towards torts is more akin to something we might have seen in the eastern bloc during the cold war there is also a badly need the disc. question about the government's willingness to intercede heavily on behalf of business interests while simultaneously allowing business to go on punished for their crimes that's always been true to some extent but we've reached a point at which they aren't even hiding it so who is the king george in this situation well it's the n.p.a. especially the motion picture association of

attorney carmen ortiz defending the office and the government's actions in this case she says quote i must however make clear that these offices this office is conduct was appropriate and bringing and handling this case the career prosecutors handling this matter took on the difficult task of enforcing a law that they had taken an oath to uphold and did so reasonable they are so they also go on there in that statement denying that they actually pursued the maximum sentence even though they were entitled to a what's your reaction to their justification. you know she's trying to hide behind the fact that law is badly written then that the law of the law makers already made a mistake when they crafted its head schwartz stolen the hard drives that contained the information that he downloaded it is a misdemeanor and he probably would have been facing probation he downloaded the data which was inside of the deleted downloaded more than the news from give them terms of agreeing that he'd signed would allow them to so themselves and he's facing a felony prosecution. carmen ortiz had turned do

attorney carmen ortiz here she was seeking. to put aaron in prison for thirty five years are in charges for. him illegally downloading millions of academic articles as you pointed out chris you know swartz was indicted on thirteen counts including wire fraud and computer fraud by sunday evening nearly nine thousand people have already signed an online petition asking president obama to remove ortiz as u.s. attorney now a lot of critics believe that ortiz was going after erin to make an example out of him and that the punishment that she was seeking did not justify the alleged crime that she was using her position of power to intimidate him to take advantage of his circumstance and she has a history of going after defendants with what some say very very heavy sentences so right now there is a lot of blowback headed her way thousands of people on line criticizing the way that she dealt with aaron swartz as keats and dealt with him. as a human being and we should also mention that according to the wall street journal swartz's atto

carmen ortiz pursued the case, some say relentlessly. as of this morning an online petition asking president obama to remove her from his post had nearly 11,000 signatures. >>> a new website called jetlagrooster.com could help you avoid that dreaded hangover by creating a custom sleep schedule to match your itinerary. >>> and the creators of "south park" are going hollywood launching important studios today. a $300 million production which will back a big screen version of their hit broadway show "the book of mormon." >>> straight ahead on "first look," the atlantic falcons prepare to host a championship game. lance armstrong prepares to tell all to oprah and america's bravest on the move. with so much noise about health care... i tuned it all out. with unitedhealthcare, i get information that matters... my individual health profile. not random statistics. they even reward me for addressing my health risks. so i'm doing fine... but she's still going to give me a heart attack. we're more than 78,000 people looking out for more than 70 mil

attorney carmen ortiz have become targets of criticism, so much so her husband, ortiz's husband, an ibm executive went to twitter criticizing the schwartz family on the day of the young man's funeral saying, quote, truly in their own son's obit they blame others for their son's death. the account has since been deleted. 28,000 americans have signed a petition to have that prosecutor fired. it takes 25,000 to require the white house to make a response. >> scott, thank you so much. >> interesting story there. as they say, surf is up, so we think. that window could be opening up soon for the maverick's big wave contest near half moon way. certain weather conditions have to be just right to officially call the contest. organizers say sunday could be the day. they'll know more tomorrow. the mavericks website says the swell models are holding up but they also need to have that wind and mother nature cooperate. once organizers finally decide on the day they'll notify the 24 world class sur fares who will have just enough time to get to half moon bay from wherever they are on the planet. cold s

attorney for the massachusetts district carmen ortiz aaron was looking at the very real possibility of spending much of the rest of his life in prison. as aaron's family said in a statement his death was the result of an exceptionally harsh shari'a of charges carrying potentially over thirty years in prison to punish an alleged crime that had no victims aaron was an activist not a murderer the punishment for his crime should have reflected that reality but it didn't instead aaron was dogged to death by an overzealous justice department that targets activists and whistleblowers with all its fury while turning a blind eye to actual criminals thieves and murderers on wall street and in corporate america this is the same sort of prosecutorial overreach we're now getting used to in a nation that more and more resembles a police state it's a nation where soldiers like bradley manning whistleblowers like john kerry who are politicians like former alabama governor don siegelman who dared to take on karl rove and medical marijuana growers receive the full brunt of the american justice system an

pretty carmen ortiz says stealing is stealing whether you use a computer command or crowbar think this is how the administration her department of justice behaves towards jeremy hammond towards wiki leaks towards barrett brown towards environmentalists towards other activists however they have never let go the financial criminals are not obeying the rule of law or even the rule of the constitution or even the spirit of the constitution they're just acting out. and psychopaths and there are any time they get caught they rewrite the law they rewrite the rules. wanted just a few minutes we'll take a look at how thirteen percent of americans can make up half the aids cases in the united states. wealthy british style. is not on the right. market why not. find out what's really happening to the global economy with mike's cause or for a no holds barred look at the global financial headlines tune into cars a report. more news today violence is once again flared up the full these are the images the world has been seeing from the streets of canada. showing up for a shelter old today. many in the

they just reached the threshold of twenty five thousand signatures to remove a federal prosecutor carmen ortiz and we'll just have to wait and see what the white house says i can only speak personally and be hopeful that president obama and the obama administration will take heed to this and to actually acknowledge this petition this year is actually and this administration's been criticized a lot for these petitions and the obama. administration not being keen on answering these petitions but what we're seeing is an outpour of support for this and this petition specifically we're seeing people like him dot com all the way to folks like from for wiki leaks kind of spreading awareness about this petition and putting more pressure on the administration to really really take notice and to do something about this federal prosecutor which again i have to mention aaron schwartz his family was suggesting that it was the prosecutors should itself that had you know be placed a lot of the blame for aaron's death on this federal prosecutor so we'll just have to wait and see what the with the obama admini

pretty carmen ortiz says stealing is stealing whether you use a computer command or a crowbar think this is how the administration her department of justice behaves towards jeremy hammond towards wiki leaks towards barrett brown towards environmentalists towards other activists however they have never let go the financial criminals they're not obeying the rule of law or even the rule of the constitution or even the spirit of the constitution they're just acting out as sociopaths and psychopaths and there are any time they get caught they rewrite the law they rewrite the rules. while get out of syria a couple minutes with a fresh edition of spotlight don't miss that. you know sometimes you see a story and it seems so you think you understand it and then you glimpse something else you hear or see some other part of it and realize that everything you thought you knew you don't know i'm tom harpur was a big picture. what mystery is hidden deep the nice. visit to the north welcome here. traps laid for intruders. and the supernatural cannot rise from nowhere. can a human be possessed by the sp

attorney carmen ortiz for pursue pursuing a penalty that didn't fit the crime swartz was accused of hacking a college network in an effort to make academic journals public for that he faced three decades behind bars now we're teachers coming under fire for abusing her prosecutorial power again this time it's the prosecution's attempt to seize a man's motel the government wanted to take the property in tewkesbury massachusetts because people chose to deal drugs there the judge however didn't agree with ortiz the judge ruled it wasn't it wasn't his fault for having a business in a rough neighborhood u.s. magistrate judge judith gale dean said quote the government's resolution of the crime problem should not to be not to simply take his property or to his actions have infuriated people that feel there's a trend of prosecutors overstepping their boundaries calling for charges and sentences that are irresponsible and unfair and we are going to leave it off there but for more on the stories we covered you can always check out our you tube channel we post all of our interviews on line there in ful

. >> you bring up the federal prosecutor in this case, carmen ortiz in this case.ed this out. truly incredible that in their own son's obit they blame others of his death and make no mention of the six-month offer. >> that does not really help. you're saying, we're prosecuting him, and the warrant for the laptop was 34 days late. it was an excellent chance the entire case was going to be dismissed. but they hounded him. he lost by some accounts his entire fortune as a co-founder of reddit based on this case, and then say were we not merciful? we were going to convict of you 13 felony counts and put you in jail for six months and you didn't take the offer and now you're blaming us. >> this is the question i like to ask all the time when something like this happens. we have the father saying things that are very heart wrenching for all of us to hear and you can put yourself in that position. but the government had something to after him and forced him no suicide. you feel helpless. >> what could people in congress you would think they would put something together, aa

saying -- >> on wednesday night, the united states attorney for the district of massachusetts, carmen ortiz, broke her silence about the case. and richest -- in a written in a statement she wrote - ortiz said her office offered aaron a plea bargain of six months in prison. when the first -- and the case first came to light, ortiz was quoted saying -- ortiz issued the statement a day after her has been used water to fire back at his wife's critics. tom dolan, an executive with ibm, wrote -- in a moment we will be joined by aaron swartz's girlfriend, but first i want to turn to aaron swartz in his own words. this is part of a speech he delivered last may in washington, d.c., would explain the challenges he sees the internet facing. >> there's a battle going on, a battle to define everything that happens on the internet in terms of traditional things that the law understands. is sharing a video like shoplifting from a movie store? or is it like loaning a videotape to a friend. is reloading a webpage like a peaceful sit-in or a violent smashing of shop windows? is the freedom to connect like fr

attorney carmen ortiz from office over alleged overreach in the case has received more than 25,000 signatures, reaching the threshold needed to demand a response from the obama administration. tributes aaron for content and to flood the internet. academics have post links to pdf's of their own copyrighted work. the group anonymous hacked the mit website and posted a statement calling the prosecution "a grotesque miscarriage of justice, distorted and perverse shadow of the justice that aaron died fighting for." meanwhile, a lawyer who represented aaron swartz on hacking charges said he told federal prosecutors a year ago that swartz was a risk of suicide. attorney andrew good told the associated press -- about our monday show aaron swartz featuring his own speech and the commentary of his longtime friend and mentor harvard law professor larry lessig, you can go to our website at democracynow.org aaron swartz will be buried today in chicago. the indigenous led idle no more movement in canada has called a new global day of action for january 28 following a series of events on friday around the w

attorney carmen ortiz has become the target of criticism. so much so her husband, an ibm executive has gone to twitter to fight back criticizing the family on the day of the young man's funeral saying, truly incredible in their own son's obit, they blame others for his death. vice president biden will reveal his recommendations to fight gun violence. mr. biden met with groups including the nra and employees from the video game industry. the gaming industry, very uneasy with the idea of them being included in any discussion of real world violence. many wonder if mr. biden is trying to appear even-handed. the nra supports real people owning real guns was quick to blame video games for the violence at sandy hook. this morning it has its own video game for the ipad from the nra. it's a range in which you can try out various guns though some guns are in-app purchases you can get a beretta for 99 cents. this is free on the apple store. >> thanks, scott. >> it's 6:16 now. christina loren is back with us. warms my soul you talking about 30-degree in

attorney carmen ortiz. of the prosecutors who tried to put hacker aaron schwartz in jail from downloading documents from m.i.t. schwartz hung himself with a belt in his new york apartment last week. ortiz saying the feds may have been satisfied with not sending schwartz to prison saying schwartz's defense counsel would have been free to recommend a sentence of probation. the big question this morning is why was the world originally under the impression the feds wanted to send schwartz to prison for decades and when did this idea that he might not have to go to prison at all surface and did he know about it? did schwartz know before he took his own life or did he still think he faced a harsher punishment. the new statement raises a lot of new questions. jon and marla? >> reading an recaarticle yeste and decades in prison. >> the prosecutor saying maybe we wouldn't have sent him to jail at all. wait. hold on. who knew what when here? >> thank you, scott. >>> 5:56 right now. christina loren is keeping her eyes

attorney for the district of massachusetts carmen ortiz said -- an estimate, aaron swartz's, criticized federal prosecutors pursuing the case against him. they said -- on sunday, mit president said the university will conduct an internal of rustication into the school's role and aaron swartz's death. aaron swartz was a longtime champion of an open internet. last year he helped organize a grass-roots movement to defeat a house bill called sopa -- the stop online parsec -- and a senate bill called pippa, the protect ip act. during a speech he delivered last man washington, d.c., he explained the challenges he saw the internet facing. >> there's a battle going on, a battle to define everything that happens on the internet in terms of traditional things, with a lot understands. is sharing the video like shoplifting from a movie store or like owning a videotape to a friend? is reloading a webpage over and over like a peaceful virtual accident or a pilot smashing shop windows? is the freedom to connect like freedom of speech or like the freedom to murder? later in the broadcast, we will play

in response to the family, the husband of the prosecutor carmen ortiz has publicly criticized them on twitter, clamming shorts was offered a six-month plea deal. the husband, and ibm executive, has since deleted his twitter profile. in washington, democratic congressmember zoe lofgren of california has introduced a measure in honor of aaron swartz. logfren's bill that aaron's law would modify the computer fraud and abuse act to omit terms of service breaches. in a statement, lofgren said -- more than a thousand school bus drivers and matrons have gone on strike in new york city in a dispute over job security and the outsourcing of their contracts. new york city has put its deals with a private bus companies that -- that hire the drivers up for bidding, a move they say could threaten their jobs at the end of the school year. those are some of the headlines. this is "democracy now!," democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman with nermeen shaikh. >> welcome to all our listeners and viewers from around the country and around the world. president obama is set to propose s

including the one to remove district attorney carmen ortiz.versary of the roe v. wade decision for women to have a constitutional right to terminate their own pregnancies. >>> 63% of americans are opposed to overturning row v. wade with 29% favoring scrapping the decision. it's similar to that from 20 years ago. somewhat remarkably, 48% of republicans -- 48% of republicans don't want roe overturned more than the 46% who do. in march, 2006 only a third of poll respondents said abortion was not that important. this last poll, a slim majority said that. those aged 18 to 29 didn't know or could not identify the roe v. wade decision. finally, you should know the president will be sworn into office because the constitution requires it to happen on january 20th. at least as far back as president eisenhower, when it falls on a sunday, the president is sworn in on a quiet ceremony with the big one held the next day. we will have live coverage later this morning on the mhp program. we will cover the big ceremony, the inauguration parade and more here on

after nearly a week-long silence united states attorney for the district of massachusetts carmen ortizabout activist aaron schwartz and his suicide and what role she may have had it. he used m.i.t.'s computers to download too many downloads from the j-store. if convicted he faces $50 million in fines. ortiz said, there is little i can do to abate the anger that many believe that the prosecution of mr. swartz was unwarranted and somehow led to the tragic result of him taking his own life. at a no time did this office ever seek or ever tell mr. swartz's attorneys that it would seek the maximum punishment. we know that they put nine more charges putting maximum pressure on aaron. and now there is an introduction of a bill called aaron's law to prevent abuse of other internet users. a memorial will be this after noon in cooper's hall in new york city. there will be some incredible people there celebrating a really amazing life. >> what do we know now that we didn't know last week? we know that a part of residential part of the country has segregation, and that it has real consequences. thi