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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsFull documentary on Aaron Swartz now available on YouTube . . . .
.Highly recommended!
Synopsis (from IMdb):
The Internet's Own Boy follows the story of programming prodigy and information activist Aaron Swartz. From Swartz's help in the development of the basic internet protocol RSS to his co-founding of Reddit, his fingerprints are all over the internet. But it was Swartz's groundbreaking work in social justice and political organizing combined with his aggressive approach to information access that ensnared him in a two-year legal nightmare. It was a battle that ended with the taking of his own life at the age of 26. Aaron's story touched a nerve with people far beyond the online communities in which he was a celebrity.
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Full documentary on Aaron Swartz now available on YouTube . . . . (Original Post)
markpkessinger
Jun 2014
OP
markpkessinger
(8,392 posts)1. Here is the NY Times' review of the movie
[font size=5]A Prodigious Beginning, Then an Early Ending[/font]
[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.
[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.
Jasana
(490 posts)2. Oh I haven't forgotten that evil queen Carmen Ortiz.
Around the time of Aaron's death there were rumors floating around that she wanted to run for governor. I wrote her a letter and told her to forget it because "you made the Internet angry and the Internet never forgets." We lost a brilliant mind and budding social justice activist because of her. I won't forget.
Thank you for the link to his documentary. It's too late to watch it tonight but I carved some time out of tomorrow night schedule. Can't wait to see how they did this.