The Internet's Own Boy: Documentary on Aaron Swartz's life released

“The Internet’s Own Boy” which is the a documentary on Internet information activist Aaron Swartz has been released in theatres in the US.   Swartz committed suicide on 13 January, 2013 at the age of 26. He helped develop an early version of the Web feed system RSS and co-founded Reddit. At the time of his death, Swartz was facing charges “stealing” more than 4 million articles from JSTOR, an online archive and journal distribution service.   In July 2011, Swartz was indicted by a federal grand jury of wire fraud, computer fraud and other charges related to allegedly stealing millions of academic articles and journals from a digital archive at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). Notably however, JSTOR itself did not press charges against him. Swartz, who pleaded not guilty to all counts, faced 35 years in prison and a $1 million fine if convicted. He was released on bond. His trial was to start later this year.   His family had blamed his death on the over zealous District Attorney who was ready to send Swartz to jail for what was not a criminal case. As many of his defendants had argued then , Swartz did not hack into JSTOR to get the articles and that that he certainly didn’t deserve a 35-year-prison sentence. Nor did his actions constitute hacking as the provision to download so many articles was already present in JSTOR.   This documentary notes that it is about the kind of mark Swartz left on the Internet. The creators of the film write, “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.”   The film is available on Vimeo, Google Play, Amazon and others as well. Do note that Indian users can buy it off Vimeo On Demand. It’s not available in the Indian region on Google Play Store Movies.   As this piece in the Time Magazine website notes, the film “theorizes that laws designed to protect us online — and those who pen, pass and implement them — are not only failing to keep us safe, but they may have the power to kill.”