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The federal government prosecuted 233 new computer-fraud cases in 2012, according to the Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse. Hacktivists don't account for many of them. The case of Aaron Swartz, who committed suicide while facing felony charges for breaking into MIT servers, shined global attention on the U.S. prosecution of hacktivists.
Hacktivists are typically charged, under the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act, with causing damage to a protected computer. Prosecutors contend that political motivation is not an excuse. If the harm to the victim was more than $5,000, it is a felony.
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