Killswitch: The Battle to Control the Internet

[Daglord]

watched this the other night. Intrigued. I think the SOPA-mindset might be relevant again with the latest push of labeling everything "fake news" & Trump's willingness to "close up the internet". check it out. good watch. Published Dec 26th, might not be up long. also on Netflix.

not sure how I managed to miss the Aaron Swartz story with all the time I spend on CT sites (tell me everything!) & back on the fence re: Snowden. diving head first into the rabbit hole...

The Internet is under attack. Free speech, innovation and democracy are all up for grabs.

In Killswitch: The Battle to Control the Internet, Lawrence Lessig, Tim Wu and Peter Ludlow frame the story of two young hactivists, Aaron Swartz & Edward Snowden, who symbolize the disruptive and dynamic nature of the Internet. Their lives parallel one another as they free information to millions on the Internet, putting them directly in the cross-hairs of the most powerful interests in the world. Will this be a cautionary tale of what happens when you dare to take on elite power structures? Or will it be the spark that ignites a revolution that will redefine democracy in the digital age?

Killswitch is a call-to-action: It is our hope that you use our documentary as a tool to continue to fight for a free and open Internet.

RIP 1986 - 2013

[Daglord]

later...

Five months after Swartz's death, the scale of a vast global surveillance program would be revealed in great detail through the release of top-secret NSA documents by Edward Snowden. coincidence?

The Internet's Own Boy: The Story of Aaron Swartz 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. This film is a personal story about what we lose when we are tone deaf about technology and its relationship to our civil liberties.

The Internet's Own Boy doesn't just drive home how tragic the end of Swartz's life was. It drives home how pertinent his story still is today. Swartz was very clearly made an enemy of the state for doing things that aren't exactly wrong. While he might have violated laws, the laws regarding digital property are severely outdated. The Computer Fraud and Abuse Act has had no meaningful changes made to it since 1986. I wasn't even alive in 1986! The internet was in its early stages.

The Internet's Own Boy drives home how desperately change is needed for the internet's future. And there is change happening, slowly but surely: last year there was a bill introduced in California to amend the CFAA. It also drives home a corollary to that point: Anyone can make a difference. And as we face the battle over Net Neutrality—a fight Knappenberger said he is certain Swartz would be fighting—it's never been more important to be involved. That might sound like a cliche to you, but after seeing The Internet's Own Boy, it feels like anything but.

Aaron Swartz very literally made tools that equipped us all to make changes in the world for the better. Now it's up to us to do him justice.

Guerilla Open Access Manifesto: http://ia600808.us.archive.org/17/items/GuerillaOpenAccessManifesto/Goamjuly2008.pdf