Alluded multiple times in the comments already but worth being explicit: Aaron Swartz killed himself 12 years ago yesterday for facing "a cumulative maximum penalty of $1 million in fines, 35 years in prison" [0] after downloading academic journal articles, which would be only a small percentage of what's available on LibGen.
Swartz was charged with 35 to 50 years, realistically faced up to 10, and was offered 6 months if he plead guilty [1]. That offer moreover wasn’t the final offer.
Put another way, it’s not clear that the law is being applied to Zuckerberg differently than it was to Swartz given the law wasn’t actually ever applied to Swartz. (Or that they wouldn’t gladly trade this lawbreaking for $1mm in fines and a negotiation over penalties where the prosecution opens with 6 months jail.)
The prosecutor acted inappropriately in that case; MIT, more wildly so. That doesn’t, however, carry over to a transgression of the law given we never got to that stage.
> Has Zuckerberg actually been charged with something with equivalent potential consequences?
I didn’t say Zuckerberg has been subjected to what Swartz was. Swartz never wielded the nation-state level power of a billionaire—it’s difficult to imagine how he could be subjected to similar psychological stress.
I said the law isn’t being applied to Zuckerberg (or anyone who has downloaded LibGen, for that matter) differently because the law was never applied to Swartz. Given the unpopular Swartz prosecution ended Ortiz’s career, and the lack of recent criminal copyright cases, it’s unlikely anyone would attempt to apply it as they did then. To anyone, including Zuckerberg.
TL; DR If you dislike what Zuckerberg is doing, you’re probably advocating for a clarification of the law. If you like it, erm, nothing much to do here.
Free for me, not for thee.
[0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aaron_Swartz