[보스턴=AP/KNS뉴스통신] 하버드 대학에서 윤리학을 전공하는 연구원이 매사추세츠공과대학교(MIT) 컴퓨터 네트워크를 해킹하여 500만 건의 학술 논문을 훔친 혐의로 기소된 것으로 알려졌다.
아론 스왈츠 (24)라는 이 연구원은 1000 여개의 학술잡지와 서류의 디지털 사본을 제공하는 연구논문 구독 서비스로 유명한 JSTOR에서 자료를 훔친 것으로 기소됐다.
19일 검찰이 발표한 기소장에서 스왈츠 연구원은 MIT 캠퍼스 컴퓨터 배전실에 침입하여 2010년 9월에서 금년 1월에 걸쳐 480만 건의 논문을 훔쳤다고 한다.
검찰은 스왈츠가 이 논물을 파일공유 웹사이트에 올리려는 의도였다고 발표했다.
19일 검찰에 자진 출두한 스왈츠 연구원은 보호된 컴퓨터에서 컴퓨터 사기와 불법자료 획득의 혐의에 대해 무죄를 주장하고 있는 가운데 10만 달러의 보석금을 내고 풀려났다. 기소될 경우 35년 징역형을 받을 수 있다.
(영문기사 원문)
Feds: Harvard fellow hacked millions of papers
BOSTON (AP) — A Harvard University fellow who was studying ethics was charged with hacking into the Massachusetts Institute of Technology's computer network to steal nearly 5 million academic articles.
Aaron Swartz, 24, was accused of stealing the documents from JSTOR, a popular research subscription service that offers digitized copies of more than 1,000 academic journals and documents, some dating back to the 17th century.
In an indictment released Tuesday, prosecutors say Swartz stole 4.8 million articles between September 2010 and January after breaking into a computer wiring closet on MIT's campus. Swartz, a student at the Edmond J. Safra Center for Ethics, downloaded so many documents during one October day that some of JSTOR's computer servers crashed, according to the indictment.
Prosecutors say Swartz intended to distribute the articles on file-sharing websites.
Swartz turned himself in Tuesday and was arraigned in U.S. District Court, where he pleaded not guilty to charges including wire fraud, computer fraud and unlawfully obtaining information from a protected computer. He was released on $100,000 unsecured bond and faces up to 35 years in prison, if convicted.
"Stealing is stealing whether you use a computer command or a crowbar, and whether you take documents, data or dollars," U.S. Attorney Carmen Ortiz said in a statement. "It is equally harmful to the victim whether you sell what you have stolen or give it away."
a guest under the fictitious name, Gary Host, in which the first initial and last name spell "ghost." He then used a software program to "rapidly download at extraordinary volume of articles from JSTOR," according to the indictment.
In the following months, MIT and JSTOR tried to block the recurring and massive downloads, on occasion denying all MIT users access to JSTOR. But Swartz allegedly got around it, in part, by disguising the computer source of the demands for data.
In November and December, Swartz allegedly made 2 million downloads from JSTOR, 100 times the number made during the same period by all legitimate JSTOR users at MIT.
The indictment also alleges that on Jan. 6, Swartz went to the wiring closet to remove the laptop, attempting to shield his identity by holding a bike helmet in front of his face and seeing his way through its ventilation holes. It said that he fled when MIT police tried to question him that day.
김희광 기자 april4241@naver.com
