Coinciding with readings from Lawrence Lessig, covering topics of copyright and free cultures on the Internet, I watched the very emotive documentary ‘The Internet’s Own Boy: The Story of Aaron Swartz’. I’m not going to review it (I’m not studying to be a film critic) but I would recommend taking some time out to watch it as you will be taken on an emotional rollercoaster from being inspired to discouraged and enraged to saddened. The documentary is available to watch for FREE here on YouTube. There’s also a version on there that requires payment to view but why should we pay for anything on the Internet right??

The documentary tells the tragic story of Aaron Swartz, an incredible, innovative computer genius who, regrettably for the good of the New “Free” World, took his own life as a result of the Old World (represented by U.S. Government in this scenario) wanting to make an example of him. In his book ‘Free Culture‘, Lessig draws on a 1945 federal case in which two North Carolina farmers filed a lawsuit against the government because of low flying aircraft killing their chickens. Their case was short-lived when Justice Douglas came to the conclusion that “Common sense revolts at the idea” and essentially obliterated the “ancient doctrine” of hundreds of years of property law. I find it difficult to comprehend how common sense and logic were ignored in Aaron Swartz’s case. The majority of charges brought against him were grounded in the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act (CFAA), which was enacted by Congress in 1986 predating the public Internet as we know it today. Why then was this “ancient doctrine” of the Old World allowed to stand in the New World? I can’t help but think that in both cases the Government and corporations stood to benefit by either refuting or embracing old laws for their advantage.

A positive point to be taken from the documentary, and one that restored some faith in humanity, is that people-power can be an unstoppable force in the fight against old regimes. The crusade against the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) was a stirring example of a motivated and united movement. When Seth Godin, in his ‘The Tribes We Lead’ TED Talk, asks the audience to “create a movement. Something that matters”, he’d find it hard to give a better example than the anti-SOPA campaign. And when Lawrence Lessig deliberates in ‘The Future of Ideas’ if “Those who would prosper under the new regime have not risen to defend it against the old” the answer is yes. Humanity will prosper in a World of free speech, communication unrestricted by censorship and freedom of creativity… and we will fight to keep it that way!