More than a Guy Fawkes Mask: Reflections on The Internet’s Own Boy
Aaron Swartz was neither the basement-dwelling “nerd” (a term lawmakers would associate with him and his work) nor the layman’s Internet crusader behind a Guy Fawkes mask avatar. Nay, Swartz was one of the most influential Internet activists of our time, an inspired thinker who challenged the Establishment’s vice-grip on Internet-based information. The New Yorker’s Larissa MacFarquhar’s obituary to him called Swartz both “brilliant and beloved. But the people who knew him best saw a darker side.” Indeed, Swartz’s vital struggle and tragic death at just 26 form part of a story that too few Americans know, but learning lessons from this cautionary tale is a task worth the contemplation.
Had it not been for The Internet’s Own Boy, I would have been just as clueless as to the impact Swartz has had on so many of our lives as free netizens of this entity we call the Internet. In fact, seeing IOB had a massive impact on me as the naive viewer in two different ways: firstly, the film does an excellent job humanizing Swartz as a technological virtuoso who would not let his elders or supposed superiors define his mission; secondly, and perhaps most importantly, the film details the myriad positive movements Swartz involved poured himself into with the hope that his tireless work would make the Internet a better place.
IOB’s ability to connect the viewer to Swartz as a charismatic activist is its defining characteristic as a biopic. The film traces Swartz’s legacy from his childhood, as an unusually bright programmer who found himself in the company of gurus twice his age, to young adulthood, where his activism lead him to several dark revelations about the nature of information on the Internet. The viewer gets the whole Aaron, with parents, brothers, former girlfriends/partners, friends, colleagues, and admirers alike sharing anecdotes that increasingly draw us to Swartz’s free-thinking persona. IOB drew me ever closer to Swartz with each scene, with facets of happiness, humor, nostalgia, sadness, and pain coming together to paint an evocative picture of a man on a mission.
The film not only serves to romanticize and pay homage to Swartz on a personal level, but moreover seeks to educate the viewer on his activism and the powerful forces that eventually silenced him by nefarious means. IOB details Swartz’s numerous successful (and lawful) efforts to promote change, such as founding Demand Progress, working with Creative Commons, and eventually pushing other big names on the Internet (and eventually, lawmakers) to stop the unjust Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA). Unfortunately, the entities against which Swartz railed the most decided to put an end to his efforts. The Internet’s Own Boy finally details the depressing struggle, both externally in court and internally upon Swartz’s psyche, that lead to his prosecution and subsequent suicide.
The Internet’s Own Boy is a powerful biopic because its protagonist exemplifies what happens when one hacktivist, despite all the support he received, could still be silenced by both private and government interest. While the legality of some of his actions (such as the hacking of JSTOR servers to disseminate free knowledge) are questionable, IOB proves that Swartz stood for freedom of access of information, for a more knowledgeable planet, and for the betterment of humanity. I for one did not know about the many things our government can and will do to restrict certain freedoms on the Internet, and I certainly did not appreciate the power of private interest on the Internet. The story of Aaron Swartz, The Internet’s Own Boy, serves as both a painful reminder of the dangers of activism and a bright beacon of hope for a new generation of netizens (including myself) demanding that the Internet, and all the wonderful information contained therein, be a free place for all.
