First thing to note is that the producers have made this film available on YouTube, for free: http://youtu.be/vXr-2hwTk58
So, if you are interested about who controls the Internet, about fundamental freedoms, about access to research and similar "scholarly articles", you have no excuse to not watch it.
And you will be rewarded for doing so by a truly moving story of a remarkable young man. Aaron Schwartz was an Internet pioneer and a precocious prodigy who developed Wikis, Reddit, RSS, Creative Commons among others and was a major contributor to the campaign that eventually stopped the SOPA bill.
Part of his campaigning was targeted at open access to research material which is controlled and capitalized on by commercial companies who contribute little to their publication but make huge profits from doing so.
This led him to download huge volumes of one such publisher, JSTOR via a laptop secreted in a switch room in MIT. The government chose to indict him with several felonies despite the fact that JSTOR chose not to pursue any litigation.
This government prosecution, "to deter others" was in poignant contrast to lack of any such prosecutions following the loans and banking crises that led to the worldwide recession.
The questions that Aaron and this film about him raises are important and are well articulated here. That is his powerful legacy and this film is a must-see, in my view.
So, if you are interested about who controls the Internet, about fundamental freedoms, about access to research and similar "scholarly articles", you have no excuse to not watch it.
And you will be rewarded for doing so by a truly moving story of a remarkable young man. Aaron Schwartz was an Internet pioneer and a precocious prodigy who developed Wikis, Reddit, RSS, Creative Commons among others and was a major contributor to the campaign that eventually stopped the SOPA bill.
Part of his campaigning was targeted at open access to research material which is controlled and capitalized on by commercial companies who contribute little to their publication but make huge profits from doing so.
This led him to download huge volumes of one such publisher, JSTOR via a laptop secreted in a switch room in MIT. The government chose to indict him with several felonies despite the fact that JSTOR chose not to pursue any litigation.
This government prosecution, "to deter others" was in poignant contrast to lack of any such prosecutions following the loans and banking crises that led to the worldwide recession.
The questions that Aaron and this film about him raises are important and are well articulated here. That is his powerful legacy and this film is a must-see, in my view.