One of the documentaries to keep on your radar this summer is The Internet’s Own Boy, the latest from Brian Knappenberger (We Are Legion: The Story of the Hacktivists), which explores and celebrates the life of the late Aaron Swartz. We were fans at Sundance, saying,” If you’ve been on the internet, there’s a chance you’ve used a service that Swartz has had a hand in. A co-founder of Reddit, a developer on RSS, an organizer of Creative Commons, and countless other services, he had a phenomenal impact on what we call the internet today.”
Sadly, his life was cut short as he committed suicide last year, presumably due to pressure following the efforts of the government to jail him for up to 35 years and fines in the millions because of harmlessly gathering data to academic journals at MIT. We said the documentary “chronicling his life and auxiliary efforts around internet freedom is formally standard, but a powerful testament to Swartz’s effort, properly defining him as a hero.” The first trailer has now dropped, which can be seen below along with the poster, ahead of a June release.
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: The Story of Aaron Swartz hits VOD and theaters on June 27th.