The Internet's Own Boy

Great book - goes through the life, and trials of Aaron Swartz as he managed to become the 'bully victim' of the justice department. In short, this is what happened:On January 6, 2011, Swartz was arrested by MIT campus police for breaking-and-entering charges, after downloading academic journal articles from JSTOR, and academic digitized journal database. Federal prosecutors charged him with two counts of wire fraud and 11 violations of the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act. These violations carried a cumulative maximum penalty of $1 million in fines, 35 years in prison, asset forfeiture, restitution and supervised release. Aaron was offered a plea bargain of six months in a federal prison, which he declined. Four days after that he committed suicide.Many people felt he had been bullied by the Justice department and cited several federal officers as examples in blowing the case against Swartz out of proportion. Swartz was a sensitive, brilliant young man who had a highly developed social conscience stemming from his development as a child prodigy growing up within an extraordinary family. Many people, including myself, feel that given his already incredible contributions while still young, that society was cheated by having this young man driven to suicide through harassment by federal officials bent on making an example out of him. He was a giver, a genius so committed to others - what an awful loss for the rest of us.

A fascinating inside look at how disruptive social trends threaten institutions and how they then abuse the legal system in an attempt to fight back and maintain the status quo. Swartz, a brilliant technologist, hacker, activist and innovator, dares to open up public government and educational data for the masses and finds the authorities waiting for him with a 30-year jail term for doing exactly nothing against the public interest. It's an illuminating comparison to the mass fraud in the banking system where nobody went to jail, that a single kid is of greater concern to federal law enforcement than an entire illegal system that almost destroyed the global economy.Full of insightful interviews and commentary, The Internet's Own Boy will leave you exasperated and depressed and yet strangely hopeful about the power of one determined and talented individual. As tragic and wasteful as Swatz' suicide was, he stands as a symbol of the liberating power of information and global networks and how must all participate individually to prevent it from coming up control by governments. This is an excellent documentary and a call to action to anyone who thinks the battle is over.

This movie was okay. Seems like the point of the movie is simply to display anger with the government over what happened to Aaron. And to shed light on things. I personally don't think I should have to pay money to use Pacer since it is a requirement for my work as a solo practitioner to be able to access cases, so I am on the same page as Aaron on this issue. I didn't realize that Pacer's revenue was so high until seeing this film! What a ripoff. I pay them hundreds per year and hardly look up anything. And Pacer often charges me erroneously just to pull up the documents where I am supposed to get one free download/look, but the free look function doesn't work and I am charged 10 cents a page for downloading documents that I court-filed. It is an atrocity, but to spend time researching what exactly they overcharged me on or to call them when I wasn't able to get a free look on a document, it isn't worth my time.

As I watched this movie about the life of a young genius who literally changed the internet to do Good, I was so sad to see how he was treated by our government. He was the founder or co founder of dozens of websites that tried to help people. I could not help but be very moved by a young man who was so gifted, cared not for the money and who was cut down before his life ever started!It is very emotional Indeed. If I had known of Aaron's existence I would have wanted to thank him for all that he has done for us, the people that he never even knew!Thank You Aaron! YOU are an Amazing Person! Thank you for all the things that you did for us and this country!

If you do not care about the death of net neutrality, please watch the story of the young man who tried to fight for the basic right that "information should be free."It's not anymore. You will be selectively throttled and YOU will not have the access you deserve because most western countries have a version of FREE SPEECH.He wasn't with is this time. We lost. He did this for the netizens of the world. I watch this every so often.But this time I cried. "David" was killed by Goliath. Aaron was stomped upon by Big Data and all that that implies. They finally won. His voice was silenced and sooner or later, they would win.

This really is an eye opening, emotional documentary that needs to be seen by all.

A very well made and sensitive film on the tragic loss of a brilliant and beautiful mind. My heart goes out to Aaron Swartz's family and friends. Such an enormously devastating and maddening loss.As someone who is pretty much ignorant to many things related to the internet, but who cares deeply about internet freedoms and keeping the government in check when it comes to censorship, this film did a great job in explaining how Aaron Swartz and others have risked their own personal freedom to make sure the internet remains free for all. We all need to remain vigilant, aware and not let them take us backward..

This was a great movie and a story that everyone should know.