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Related: About this forumThe Internet's Own Boy: The Story of Aaron Swartz (full documentary)
Last edited Mon Jun 30, 2014, 03:29 AM - Edit history (1)
The complete documentary about the extraordinary life and tragic death of Aaron Swarts, "The Internet's Own Boy: The Story of Aaron Swartz" is now available for viewing on YouTube.
Synopsis (from IMdb):
Pharaoh
(8,209 posts)what is it about?
cantbeserious
(13,039 posts)Pharaoh
(8,209 posts)These people are the hope of the future...........
markpkessinger
(8,409 posts)[font size=3]The Internets Own Boy: The Story of Aaron Swartz[/font] | [font color="gray"]NYT Critics' Pick
By JEANNETTE CATSOULIS JUNE 26, 2014[/font]
Moving and maddening in almost equal measure, Brian Knappenbergers The Internets Own Boy: The Story of Aaron Swartz is a devastating meditation on what can happen when a prescient thinker challenges corporate interests and the power of the state.
Though unapologetically partial to his subject, an idealistic computer genius who committed suicide in 2013 at 26, Mr. Knappenberger keeps his images simple and allows his facts to take precedence. Clips of Mr. Swartz in home movies and at speaking engagements chart his growth from child prodigy to Internet crusader who believed that the contents of public-interest databases should be freely available to all. Detailed in his Guerrilla Open Access Manifesto, this ethos would lead to his 2011 arrest based on charges that he downloaded millions of journal articles from a subscription-only online service or, in the words of the writer Cory Doctorow, for taking too many books out of the library.
Making room for the moral and philosophical underpinnings of freedom of information, and questioning the motives of its opponents, the films many contributors including family, friends and experts like Tim Berners-Lee, the inventor of the World Wide Web generate a how could this happen? tone that feels agonizingly appropriate. None more so than the writer Quinn Norton, whos commendably candid about (and clearly still haunted by) her cooperation with federal prosecutors. Their pursuit of Swartz placed them, she believes, on the wrong side of history. Few who watch this film will feel inclined to disagree.
zebonaut
(3,688 posts)markpkessinger
(8,409 posts)Look, I'm happy to give George W. Bush full credit for every one of his fuck-ups. But Aaron was driven to take his own life as a result of an overzealous Justice Department during the Obama administration!
zebonaut
(3,688 posts)markpkessinger
(8,409 posts). . . which, according to the film, was passed after some in the Reagan administration and some members of Congress got all freaked out over the 1983 Matthew Broderick film, "War Games" (FACEPALM!). The CFAA was an absurdly overbroad piece of legislation, created by people who had little or no real understanding of the technology they were regulating even at that time, let alone in future decades.
PotatoChip
(3,186 posts)I remember this case, but never really knew of the specific issues surrounding it; such as the fact that MIT could have perhaps made a difference had they spoken up. There is so much wrong about what occurred on a number of levels, though.
Just sad. So very sad.
ReRe
(10,597 posts)Thanks mpk. I sat my butt down and watched the whole film from this OP. Shame on anyone who chooses not to do the same (who hasn't already seen it.) I'll never forget the day. I went outdoors, raised my arms and eyes to heaven and screamed "Whyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy???" His death hung over me for months. I didn't think I would ever get over the loss to the world of this promising, brilliant, kind, & unselfish young man. Seriously everyone, you need to take some time to watch this doc. I learned so much more about the completely senseless prosecution against him.