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henrymakow.com — Jan 30, 2015

internets_own_boy_the_story_of_aaron_swartz_ver2Unjust laws exist;
shall we be content to obey them,
or shall we endeavor to amend them
and obey them until we have succeeded,
or shall we transgress them at once?
–Henry David Thoreau

by Henry Makow Ph.D. — Jan 30, 2015

A reader, Mary Lynn, tipped me to a documentary The Internet’s Own Boy, (2014) written and directed by Brian Knappenberger, and released last summer, 17 months after Aaron’s suicide Jan 11, 2013.
For some mysterious reason, this wonderful two-hour documentary did not get the media hype or word of mouth it deserved, and bombed in theatrical release. It is now available for free on YouTube which perhaps is appropriate given Aaron’s work and its Kickstarter funding.
Aaron’s suicide at the age of 26 was a tragic mistake. Many people believe he was murdered but that is true only in an indirect sense. The film makes it clear that he was a highly-strung young genius who was depressed by criminal charges against him.
Swartz easily could have turned his trial into a cause celebre and used it to advance the cause. He had already helped engineer an unprecedented nation-wide outcry that stopped a bill restricting Internet freedom. He could easily have done the same for himself. His Internet freedom lobby, Demand Progress.org, had 1.5 million members. His supporters were Obama voters, and ultimately, the President would have had to intervene with the Dept. of Justice.

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