People commit crimes because they believe it's morally right all the time. That doesn't mean it's not a crime, and the fact that Swartz committed multiple series crimes has never been disputed. It's simply a question of whether you think it was a justifiable crime or not.

So if you don't think Swartz's crimes were justified, you're just talking about two people who both committed crimes. You don't need to be arguing in bad faith to think that they're comparable even if their motives were different.