had not originally intended seeing this film at the nziff
but addiction has set in and there was a gap that needed filling
not that familiar with the background story of aaron swartz
another young internet startup entrepreneur zillionaire? - wrong
startup yes - reddit amongst others - but riches - no thanks
early scenes of family life with 2 brothers open the film
they plus mom and dad talking affectionately about aaron
could read at the age of 3 - fun-loving and very giving also
quickly and very early on masters computer programming
has developed a collaborative website well before wikipedia
by the time he is 15 he is guest-speaking at national conventions
has developed the backbone for rss feeds and creative commons
the literal whizz kid - but with a social conscience to match
known and respected by many including tim berners-lee
an idol of aarons and inventor of www with similar ideals
aaron's real concern is not about fame and fortune but freedom
mainly of the guts of the internet and is horrified by corporate greed
he also speaks out about companies that control public information
jstor being one such company - they housing court/law documents
and then charging extortionately for access to such public information
aaron hacks into jstor via mit - massachusetts institute of technology
starts downloading onto a laptop their entire database of documents
he believes it belongs to the public anyway - but is caught and charged
it is suggested the fbi want to have a showcase trial of a computer hacker
aaron though still very young is a big fish in the internet community
his blog contains an article titled the guerilla open source manifesto
seems this document alone about freedom of information has riled
even while the authorities work up a case against him he continues
along the way becoming a folk hero and national commentator
seen on tv shows giving opinions on all matters technological
he has no fear - speaks his mind openly - sopa hits the news
the stop-online-piracy-act - supported by copyright owners
sopa gives the power to shutdown complete sites on demand
if there is any hint of any copyright infringement on any scale
this is huge - aaron goes into overdrive - organises the blackout
many sites including google for one-day using black backgrounds
or blacking out selected articles to demonstrate what could happen
very effective - sopa support is reversed - from the white house down
but revenge it seems is sought - someone, somewhere goes in hard
using an outdated law an extra 13 charges are piled on to aaron
the pressure becomes unbearable - he faces 35 years in prison
what has not been revealed to this point is his depressive nature
which presumably leads to his suicide on january 11 2013 - aged 26
an understandable outpouring of grief - a lot of it shown on screen
one stating an early detection for pancreatic cancer has been found
this by a 15 year old who accessed the downloaded jstor database
very, very sad - i had no idea of the impact of this amazing man
cut short in a promising life - he had sincere political aspirations
his a very simple philosophy - to make the world a better place
martin luther king, john f kennedy, john lennon, aaron swartz
big call but of his generation he is likely much more relevant
tim berners-lee spoke these beautiful words about his prodigy
aaron dead
world wanderers, we have lost a wise elder
hackers for right, we are one down
parents all, we have lost a child
let us weep
