MIT to release documents about activist Swartz

The president of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology announced that the school will voluntarily release public documents related to the prosecution of free-information activist Aaron Swartz, who hanged himself in January as he faced trial on hacking charges.

The announcement by MIT President L. Rafael Reif comes in response to a March 15 request by lawyers for Swartz's estate to have the U.S. District Court in Boston make the documents public. The documents will be released at the same time as an internal analysis of MIT's role in the Swartz case is made public. No date has been set for the release of that analysis, being conducted by professor Hal Abelson.