An online petition that asks the White House to remove the U.S. attorney in charge of the prosecution of Internet activist and hacker Aaron Swartz passed the 25,000 signature threshold Tuesday that should prompt an official response.

Swartz committed suicide in New York City on Friday. At the time of his death, Swartz was accused of computer fraud and awaiting a trial expected to begin in the spring. He faced a maximum of 35 years of prison and up to $1 million in fines.

The petition has now passed 25,000 signatures, which means the White House is supposed to answer it — although it's not legally bound to do so. A recent petition to build a Death Star was addressed, although others take more time and some go unanswered.

Parker Higgins, an activist at the Electronic Frontier Foundation, a digital rights advocacy group, lamented Monday that a petition to grant open access to scholarly articles has been unanswered for more than seven months.

"White House makes jokes about their beer recipe and building a death star, but they don't answer a real petition on open access," Higgins tweeted.

Swartz was accused of sneaking into the Massachussets Institute of Technology's library, plugging his laptop into a network closet and illegally downloading millions of scholarly articles from the online publisher JSTOR.

Swartz was reportedly depressed, but his family, supporters and legal experts such as Lawrence Lessig, have accused the prosecution led by assistant U.S. Attorney Steve Heymann, working under Ortiz, of overreach that may have played a role in his suicide. Swartz's lawyer had seen his plea agreement rejected as recently as last Wednesday.

According to Swartz's latest lawyer, Marty Weinberg, his last plea deal was accepted by JSTOR, but the deal fell through when the MIT refused to sign the deal. MIT's president already announced that the famed school will conduct an investigation to assess its eventual role in Swartz's death.

SEE ALSO: Technology's Greatest Minds Say Goodbye to Aaron Swartz

The success of the petition will certainly keep stirring the controversy surrounding his death. Andrew Good, Swartz's former lawyer, told the San Francisco Gate Monday that last year he told federal prosecutors that his client was a suicide risk.

"Put him in jail, he'll be safe there," they responded, according to Good.

Photo courtesy of Flickr, ragesoss