Swartz, like other "activists" through the years, made himself a target in order to challenge the status quo and attempt to force changes in policy and law. The intended result of his actions were to elicit an overzealous reaction from "the man" and he got it. Yes, it's quite sad that he wasn't strong enough to deal with the results of his actions. He had a choice in the way he went about challenging the system and he chose to act.