Edeline Kalishevich
The documentary i favored was The Internets Own Boy, mostly because of the ethos aspect. As a person who does not understand much when it comes to technology and security, I was moved by the life story of Aaron Swartz. From the very beginning when the documentary showed home videos of Swartz as a child, it was clear that he was special. He was a fast learner, and coded his first impressively advanced website at only twelve years old. It’s rare to see someone with so much mental power use their genius for good rather than evil. But Aaron wanted people to have access to knowledge, equally and to a degree that would benefit society as a whole. This is even shown at the end of the documentary when that scientist was able to use the data that Aaron fought to be accessible, to take a step in curing pancreatic cancer. The internet is so powerful and this documentary really showcased that.
What this documentary also showed was how scary the internet can be. Aaron had capabilities that threatened the government and their emphasis on infringement, although his intentions were not in line with the accusations. It was absolutely wild to hear how the government instilled terror into Aaron and his associates after catching him downloading the Jstor data, almost like in a scientific fiction thriller movie. From the Long Live the Internet article, I was able to finally begin to understand the importance of linked data and the impact it can have on society. Aaron wanted just that; he realized it was unconstitutional to make documents inaccessible.
I never really thought about open access in terms of the internet. The government going out of their way to keep documents sealed is entering us dangerously close into 1984 Big Brother territory. These documents are only available on some databases, and only certain individuals can access these databases in the first place, which is a pressing issue. And as we saw in this documentary, when Aaron Swartz tried to get a grip on Jstor documents, he was prosecuted. He was not just prosecuted, he was prosecuted for an action that is not a crime. He was not stealing, hacking or harming anyone. He was simply trying to download data that he should theoretically already have access to.
It just seems that commercialization is controlling the web, which is so annoying and unfair. Making a profit is the most important thing to corporations and service providers, which causes people to have to pay hundreds of dollars for research that should be open to all. Society’s progress is hindered, and the greed that is already so present in society prevails. I think I want to focus my research paper on the commercialization factor of open access and internet privacy.