Internet activist charged with hacking into MIT network

"This makes no sense," Segal said in a statement. "It's like trying to put someone in jail for allegedly checking too many books out of the library."

"It's even more strange because JSTOR has settled any claims against Aaron, explained they've suffered no loss or damage, and asked the government not to prosecute," Segal added.

JSTOR declined to comment on the charges, but said the downloads were "unauthorized."

The DOJ is not aware that any personal identifying information was stolen from JSTOR, the DOJ said.

Swartz wrote the Wikipedia analysis, "Who Writes Wikipedia?" He also co-authored the RSS 1.0 specification and has served on the board of Change Congress, a government reform group, according to his website.

Grant Gross covers technology and telecom policy in the U.S. government for The IDG News Service. Follow Grant on Twitter at GrantGross. Grant's e-mail address is grant_gross@idg.com.