Before watching Citizenfour, I’ve already heard a little about how someone exposed the government for secretly surveilling us and sought refuge in other countries to avoid being taken in by the authorities. After watching both Citizenfour and The Internet’s Own Boy, we can see how invasive and cruel the government is. Even after being exposed for invading the privacy of millions, the government was mainly intent on making an example out of both Edward Snowden and Aaron Swartz for actually doing the right thing.

I would’ve liked to learn more about the events that occurred right before the death of Aaron Swartz and if the government kept inconsideration of how immoral their actions were. The government was so intent on using Aaron as an example that they completely forgot that he is still just a human being. Up until the moment of his death, he was constantly paranoid about when the authorities would suddenly arrest him and take him away. It was so brave of Aaron to stand up against the government and not allow himself to serve a sentence that he did not deserve. Edward Snowden was also very brave for going up against the government. Even though he acknowledged the possibilities of how it may completely change his life, he still went through with exposing the government and did not deserve his conviction.