The Internet's Own Boy: The Story of Aaron Swartz

July 6, 2014 7:49 AM

Brian Knappenberger's The Internet's Own Boy: The Story of Aaron Swartz is available to watch for free in its entirety thanks to the Internet Archive.

Also available for torrent download here.

posted by gman (18 comments total)

This link also has the full film, in case Archive.org gets slow.
posted by merelyglib at 8:16 AM on July 6, 2014

I've downloaded this to watch but I fear it will be difficult. I didn't know Aaron well, just a friendly acquaintance, and his death didn't hit me too hard at the time. But the more I think on it, the sadder I get, and I worry this film might be too much.

I sometimes find myself wishing he were alive to write about the NSA in the wake of Snowden's revelations. Somehow I think he'd have a clear understanding and a plan.
posted by Nelson at 9:04 AM on July 6, 2014 [4 favorites]

I really can't view Aaron Swartz as more than a poster child for suicide at this point. I know that sounds really harsh, but millions of people suffer from depression and have made the choice on a daily basis to live. (And if you are out there suffering and struggling I want you to live. It can, and does get better. It's worth holding on and seeing if it gets better, even in those days and moments when you may not feel it will. You can get through it.)

Prosecutors have been over zealous when it comes to hackers for decades. They cite recidivism (without evidence) as a way to push for harsher sentences. I am skipping the details, but it has happened to me.

I can't help but feel there is a strong message of "if you get in trouble, just kill yourself and be a martyr" to the hagiography surrounding Aaron Swartz's unfortunate decision. And it seems to me that this documentary is just going to play up that message even more.

I will watch it this week and see if I still feel that message is there.
posted by Catblack at 9:18 AM on July 6, 2014 [2 favorites]

I sometimes find myself wishing he were alive to write about the NSA in the wake of Snowden's revelations. Somehow I think he'd have a clear understanding and a plan.

I think this is the desired result of the persecution, to snuff out any hope for sanity in the rest of us.
posted by MikeWarot at 9:19 AM on July 6, 2014

I also find the hagiography very troubling. But it's hard to push back against it because one is not supposed to speak ill of the dead.

Annoyed people, have hope. You are not alone!
posted by idlewords at 10:01 AM on July 6, 2014 [2 favorites]

I watched this last week and found it to be mostly very well done. From the interviews in the film (and the comments from his girlfriend that I've read), the depression angle seems to have been overplayed in the press. The final interviews with Swartz are not of someone who is depressed or of someone looking for an easy out. While I'm no psychiatrist, I do have first-hand experience to compare.
posted by CheeseDigestsAll at 10:14 AM on July 6, 2014 [2 favorites]

I can't help but feel there is a strong message of "if you get in trouble, just kill yourself and be a martyr" to the hagiography surrounding Aaron Swartz's unfortunate decision. And it seems to me that this documentary is just going to play up that message even more.

I didn't get that message after watching this film. It was a huge surprise to everyone around him, especially considering the timing of his suicide. It was more a criticism of the actions of the NSA that pushed someone (perhaps already depressive) over the brink. No one even knew he was feeling that much pressure.
posted by monologish at 10:52 AM on July 6, 2014 [2 favorites]

I thought this was a very good documentary - it placed Aaron's thoughts and actions very clearly within the fast moving history of the internet, greatly advancing my understanding of the man and the events around him. Thanks for posting.
posted by not_that_epiphanius at 1:20 PM on July 6, 2014

I also find the hagiography very troubling. But it's hard to push back against it because one is not supposed to speak ill of the dead.

Annoyed people, have hope. You are not alone!

Do you have some knowledge that Swartz's life and personality have been primped and prettified for public consumption in service of a specific message?
posted by dogrose at 4:11 PM on July 6, 2014

dogrose: "Do you have some knowledge that Swartz's life and personality have been primped and prettified for public consumption in service of a specific message?"

I don't have to think his image has been consciously overhauled to be uneasy with voicing disagreement with his choices. His suicide can easily be read as a choice to die for his beliefs, even by those of us who have some reservations about his actions, and it's hard to second-guess someone so passionate. This is particularly true when that person was so widely loved and admired by people I respect. (That may be more important - Fred Phelps was pretty passionate but I don't care to spare the feelings of his bereaved.)
posted by gingerest at 7:12 PM on July 6, 2014

Oh no in no way did Aaron "die for his beliefs". What a terrible message to take from the whole sorry ordeal, I hope no one does. (I really should watch the video, my apologies for posting when I have not.)
posted by Nelson at 7:24 PM on July 6, 2014

He was guilty of a crime and he should have taken a plea deal and served a few months instead of doing what he did.
posted by knoyers at 8:31 PM on July 6, 2014

knoyers: Given a sufficiently motivated prosecutor, and access to the NSA files we're ALL guilty of some crime... are you suggesting we all just buckle under and submit to our new overlords?
posted by MikeWarot at 8:42 PM on July 6, 2014

The things he did shouldn't even be considered illegal. Even if what he did was illegal, he was guilty of a petty nothing of a crime that was in no way done to enrich himself. He did it in service to freedom of information and no one was damaged in any way. I wish there were a lot more people like him out there. Yet, even the plea deal would have resulted in him being in prison for 6 months. That's not even remotely proportional.

The only thing I really agree with the naysayers on is that he most certainly should not have committed suicide no matter what the situation.
posted by HappyEngineer at 8:51 PM on July 6, 2014 [1 favorite]

How was JSTOR, the organization itself, not harmed?
posted by MisantropicPainforest at 6:43 AM on July 7, 2014

are you suggesting we all just buckle under and submit to our new overlords?

Are you suggesting suicide is the right choice in the face of prosecuting overlords? If this was about Swartz maintaining his honor and integrity instead of "submitting", I don't see it.
posted by stbalbach at 6:57 AM on July 7, 2014

He was guilty of a crime and he should have taken a plea deal and served a few months instead of doing what he did.

The film suggests he considered it very carefully. One of the issues for him was that the deal meant pleading guilty to a felony and he was afraid that would compromise his political goals.

How was JSTOR, the organization itself, not harmed?

JSTOR wasn't harmed because Swartz hadn't done anything with the downloaded data. No one is sure what his plans were. Some believe he was simply going to use it for a private research project. JSTOR declined to press charges, and the film presents a federal prosecutor determined to "make an example" out of Swartz.
posted by CheeseDigestsAll at 8:17 PM on July 7, 2014 [3 favorites]

If Swartz was really guilty of a crime, I should be put on death row for all the speed limits I've exceeded, and that time I shoplifted a walnut from the produce section when my mom wouldn't buy them for us. We should be ashamed of our own government, and of ourselves.
posted by allkindsoftime at 9:12 PM on July 12, 2014