By Magdaléna Paluchová (Slovakia)
Brian Knappenberger’s documentary The Internet’s Own Boy: The Story of Aaron Swartz follows the brilliant mind of a boy who was more like a millionaire at 21 and seeks to reveal, through the confession of his loved ones, friends and co-workers, what led to the death of Aaron Swartz—who committed suicide at 26 years old.
A topic as heavy and indigestible as the untimely death of the great Internet hero begins with innocence. Idyllic childhood videos of young Swartz bring us closer to the boy’s purity of mind, endlessly hungry for science and education. Funny images of young Aaron take on the form of his favourite computer, suggesting that this will be the unusual story of a boy who recharges his intellectual world. The world of the Internet. However, this story does not end well.
The film offers us a cross-section of childhood, a brief background on Aaron as a young programmer, writer and speaker who participated in a web format RSS with the developers Reed, who was involved in the development of the organization Creative Commons. Above all, however, Aaron was an activist and one of the most important and controversial contributors to the progress of the Internet and the availability of its content.
As we see, this young man penetrated the dark corners of the internet’s cabins, and got into trouble because of 2 million downloaded documents from MIT (Massachusetts Institute of technology)—which caused civic protests and many unanswered questions about the extent to which the Internet is a safe place, in what quantity information can be abused and harmed the rights of users.
Through talking heads, which include Tim Berners-Lee and Lawrence Lessig, the film questions whether Aaron is a criminal who stole the information. No, he was not. He was a genius who has just won the title thanks to the Internet one of the most respected heads of the earth, but at the right moment he realized where the boundaries between right and wrong to users and because of his determination to prove this idea to deliver to the whole world. Despite the total collapse of his personality. That is heroism.
In the film we follow the opinions of experts on the Internet’s laws and policies who are interested in more or less formal position on the matter. On the other hand, Knappenberger nicely captures the necessary emotion, running from Aaron’s family. An important moment comes when Aaron’s brother says, “If you had magical powers, would you use it to accumulate money or to do good in the world?”
Knappenberger offers enough space for the viewer to take a personal stance on the matter. The film features emotional shots of the Swartz family, where we see that his mother still feels pain, but also pride for her son. It also offers images of co-workers who are still contrary to what happened. At emotional places, the film also includes suitable music, as well as archival footage and interviews with Aaron, and Aaron protesting directly between people. Knappenbergis also trying to explain why a brilliant young man ended up with his life, but this issue remains unsolved, which encourages the viewer to continue searching for it.
Aaron was a king. Maybe, because of his youthful age, we could call him the Prince of the Internet. Arguably, the Internet executed him: in June 2013 he was found hanged in his apartment in Brooklyn. We can only assume that it was because of harassment and accusations about his private life. However, his family says he was an optimist and a strong personality. The film’s conclusion therefore remains open—much like the question of whether the Internet is a safe place. Maybe we have to wait for the next film. Or maybe we have to wait for the next Aaron Swartz to complete the mission.
