Must watch: Trailer released for Aaron Swartz documentary, "The Internet's Own Boy"

The Kickstarter-funded documentary, which premiered at Sundance, tells the tragic story of hacktivist Aaron Swartz

Published April 29, 2014 3:11PM (EDT)

Aaron Swartz              (Wikipedia)
Aaron Swartz (Wikipedia)

A trailer for Brian Knappenberger's documentary about Internet prodigy and hacktivist Aaron Swartz has been released. The film, which was funded by Kickstarter and took around a year to make, follows the life, activism and prosecution of Aaron Swartz.

Swartz committed suicide in January of 2013, in the midst of being federally prosecuted for downloading a mass of copyrighted JSTOR articles from MIT, and potentially facing 35 years in prison and $1 million in fines. His plea bargain to avoid jail time had just been rejected.

Swartz viewed Internet sharing as a “moral imperative,” rejected the money-grubbing corporate facet of the Internet, and became an important figure in the fight to keep the Internet open and free (fighting against SOPA and PIPA).The film will be released on July 27.


By Sarah Gray

Sarah Gray is an assistant editor at Salon, focusing on innovation. Follow @sarahhhgray or email sgray@salon.com.

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Aaron Swartz Documentary Innovation Suicide Technology The Internet The Internet's Own Boy Video