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The Internet's Own Boy - Press

Variety on “The Internet’s Own Boy” June 27 Release

Aaron Swartz Documentary ‘Internet’s Own Boy’ Set for June 27 Release

“We wanted to bring Aaron’s story to as many people as possible, so the day ‘The Internet’s Own Boy’ debuts in theaters, we are also offering the film across a variety of digital services and platforms in a model fitting with what Aaron architected and stood for” said Knappenberger…

The film explores the arrest, the prosecution’s tactics in bringing the case to trial through the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act, and the possible future of information access on the Internet.

Geoff Berkshire gave the film a strong review for Variety, calling it “spellbinding.”

Reform the CFAA, Takepart.com Articles

References for Takepart.com Article About CFAA Reform

Reference Links for TakePart.com Article on the CFAA:
  “7 Things You Might Be Doing Online That Could Get You Arrested”:

1. The EFF’s Computer Fraud And Abuse Act Reform https://www.eff.org/issues/cfaa

2. Farewell to Aaron Swartz, an Extraordinary Hacker and Activist
By Peter Eckersley
https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2013/01/farewell-aaron-swartz

3. Rebooting Computer Crime Law Part 1: No Prison Time For Violating Terms of Service
By Marcia Hoffman and Rainey Reitman
https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2013/01/rebooting-computer-crime-law-part-1-no-prison-time-for-violating-terms-of-service

4. Aaron Swartz’s Father: My Son Was ‘Killed by the Government’
By Matthew Fleischer for TakePart.com
http://www.takepart.com/article/2013/01/16/aaron-swartzs-father-government-killed-my-son

5. The Truth about Aaron Swartz’s “Crime” By Alex Stamos
http://unhandled.com/2013/01/12/the-truth-about-aaron-swartzs-crime/

6. This Is the MIT Surveillance Video That Undid Aaron Swartz
By Kevin Poulsen for Wired
http://www.wired.com/2013/12/swartz-video/

7. Booking Video: Aaron Swartz Jokes, Jousts With Cops After MIT Bust
By Kevin Poulsen for Wired
http://www.wired.com/2014/04/aaron-swartz-booking-video/

8. Until Today, If You Were 17, It Could Have Been Illegal To Read Seventeen.com Under the CFAA
By Dave Maass and Kurt Opsahl and Trevor Timm
https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2013/04/until-today-if-you-were-17-it-could-have-been-illegal-read-seventeencom-under-cfaa

9. Today, we save the Internet (again): fix the CFAA!
by Cory Doctorow for BoingBoing
http://boingboing.net/2013/04/08/today-we-save-the-internet-a.html

10. Swartz didn’t face prison until feds took over case, report says
By Declan McCullagh for CNET
http://www.cnet.com/news/swartz-didnt-face-prison-until-feds-took-over-case-report-says/

Reform the CFAA, Takepart.com Articles

7 Things You Might Be Doing Online That Could Get You Arrested

7 Things You Might Be Doing Online That Could Get You Arrested By Lisa Rein for TakePart.com                                                                              June 2, 2014

From the article:

For instance, in Swartz’s case, his “crime” was having a script download the journal articles rather than sitting there and downloading them one at a time himself. Yet it’s not clear that such automation even violates MIT and JSTOR’s terms of service. As computer expert Alex Stamos describes it: “[Aaron] was an intelligent young man who found a loophole that would allow him to download a lot of documents quickly. This loophole was created intentionally by MIT and JSTOR, and was codified contractually” in documents revealed during the discovery phase of the government’s case against Swartz.

This vaguely defined law with strict penalties means that an overly ambitious prosecutor can imprison someone for doing things most Internet users consider routine, allowing law enforcement to go after people for violating a contract, even when the violated party isn’t encouraging prosecution.