Didn't he get caught before he fully downloaded everything? My understanding was that's what he was doing with that laptop stuffed in a supply closet on the MIT campus.
He would have succeeded if he was just wanting to deaddrop all the data in a bin, probably without getting caught.
but certainly he was capable of ensuring that everything he downloaded would be released if that was what he wanted
Edit: Also, is there going to be another der* release this year? They and therefore you have taught me more than I'd learned in the last five years otherwise.