"Counsel for the government understands that a number of external connections
were made and/or attempted to the Acer laptop between January 4, 2011 and
January 6, 2011, including from a Linux server at MIT and from China."
("Attempted" means his laptop probably had a public ip address assigned through dhcp and someone was knocking on ports from China. This "attempt" happens constantly 24/7 and is nothing to write home about.)
"7. Exculpatory Evidence. In paragraph H of the government's letter, the
government described but refused to provide almost all of certain exculpatory
evidence, including evidence that, during the period covered by the indictment,
persons other than Mr. Swartz at Harvard, MIT and China accessed the Acer
laptop that was seized by the government, and persons other than Mr. Swartz at
MIT and elsewhere were engaging in "journal spidering" of JSTOR data using a
"virtual computer" that can be hosted by anyone at MIT. The government has no
basis for withholding the electronic evidence described as exculpatory in its
letter."
Also, looks like this went all the way up to the Chancellor, so it's not as if it was just the libraries or someone pushing for this.