Schwartz broke real laws in attempting to copy a publication database. Breaking and entering, physically wiring his computer into a private network.

Ok for a 'good' cause, whatever. Problem is he did it in the dumbest way possible.

The planted computer was on the free Wifi network, but he actually went into the network closet a second time to retrieve it, which is when he was caught; you don't rob the same bank twice for fuck sake. Even if he had gotten away with it he was setting up a rival college to take the fall, so they were pissed and weren't going to give him a break. He didn't properly rate limit it either, and a rinky-dink 10 requests a minute service is going to notice and break when it gets 10 a second instead.

Plenty of smart ways to clone that database, but the point here is the guy was an idiot. Terrible decision-making, terrible execution. Totally believable that he'd 41% himself rather than do six months and be a felon.