The prosecutors responsible for bringing charges against Internet activist Aaron Swartz have become the target of an online harassment campaign. Swartz's family has blamed the prosecutors for his January suicide. In a court filing first reported by Wired, an assistant US attorney wrote that his bosses, Carmen Ortiz and Stephen Heymann, have faced harassment from individuals upset about their handling of the Swartz case.

"ROFLMAO just saw you were totally dox’d over the weekend by Anonymous," one e-mail to Heymann read. "How does it feel to become an enemy of the state? FYI, you might want to move out of the country and change your name."

The e-mail included Heymann's home address and telephone number.

Heymann was also sent a postcard depicting his father's head falling from a guillotine:

A similar picture was sent to Heymann's father, a professor at Harvard.

The filing says Ortiz has also received harassing communications but didn't give any examples.

The court that would have heard Swartz's case is currently considering whether to unseal documents related to his prosecution. The US attorney's office has supported the release of some information but has urged the court to continue to keep the names of some individuals involved in the case under wraps.

"Whatever additional public benefit might exist by disclosing certain names was, in this case, outweighed by the risk to those individuals of becoming targets of threats, harassment and abuse," the assistant prosecutor argued.