And, I feel like people really gloss over, perhaps because it is uncomfortable to think about...

He took his own life.

There is no doubt the government put him in an uncomfortable position, but his story is a gross and tragic outlier. It's hard to draw any patterned conclusions from it, especially because we'll never know how the case would have worked out had Swartz not exited the judicial process.

Aaron had a history of depression and suicidal ideation that long predates his prosecution.

Also: https://www.unqualified-reservations.org/2013/01/noam-chomsk...