The Story Of A Programming Prodigy and Information Activist Aaron Swartz

The internet’s own boy film is filled with very alarming content; it made me feel that the government is scamming us of our money just for the access of knowledge. Aaron Swartz was very determined to fix this issue, that he challenged the large corporations and congress on so many levels. It even got to the point where they were prosecuting him. This whole film shifted my thinking from being unaware and unfazed to aware and kind of disappointed in the way these corporation are charging for knowledge made by someone else and charging maximum dollars so they can have these billion dollar businesses. It shifted my thinking because I wasn’t really mindful of how much money these corporations are making and how much they are blocking us from essential knowledge that we could use for everyday research. When I think about it all, it kind of upsets me because it brings back memories of plenty of times I was researching things and I get to this good site and it states something about paying to see the rest of the information. I think this has become a big scam that’s only benefiting the people in the corporation and not those who seek this information. The thought of that itself has shifted my thinking.

Public Access to Public Domains

These corporations that hold onto these files and charge universities and people to obtain these documentations make billions of dollar doing just that. I think this is such an unfair advantage because in The Guerilla Open Access Manifesto, Swartz stated

“Scanning entire libraries but only allowing the folks at Google to read them? Providing scientific articles to those at elite universities in the First World, but not to children in the Global South? It’s outrageous and unacceptable”,

which is very unfair to those smaller universities and those who cant afford to pay for these expensive documentations. Not only is this a scam but also makes things unfair and noncompetitive to those at smaller colleges and dealing with low Socioeconomic status.

Journal Publishers

This corporation was one of the many corporations that Shwartz challenged. The copyright and internet piracy laws are so strict, they would fine or even prosecute you for stealing or sharing this access of information with people. Journal publishers would have the researchers complete their work then hand over the documentations to these corporations and their copyright stuff just so these establishments can gain positive benefits. I remember in the film, they said JSTOR would open up all access for 200 million dollars which is ridiculous considering the access to information/knowledge should be free.

Now that I am aware of this issue, I think it is very imperative the government and the people come to some kind of medium. Aaron Swartz basically dedicated his life and died fighting for these access locks to be broken. That ongoing fight with these establishments need to continue to go until something changes. The world will only become a better place if more people are more knowledgeable and smarter so they will be well equipped in professional fields.