Today Is ‘The Day We Fight Back’
In honor of Aaron Swartz and the billions of us who want to use the Internet for the pursuit of knowledge and not a weapon of surveillance, control and war, thousands of websites on Tuesday, Feb. 11, are asking visitors to call their representatives and demand legislative action against the National Security Agency of the United States.In honor of Aaron Swartz, thousands of websites are asking visitors to call their representatives and demand legislative action against the National Security Agency.
By Jacob Appelbaum from San Francisco [CC-BY-SA-2.0], via Wikimedia Commons
By Jacob Appelbaum from San Francisco [CC-BY-SA-2.0], via Wikimedia Commons
In honor of Aaron Swartz and the billions of us who want to use the Internet for the pursuit of knowledge and not a weapon of surveillance, control and war, thousands of websites on Tuesday, Feb. 11, are asking visitors to call their representatives and demand legislative action against the National Security Agency of the United States.
It’s actually not so simple as all that, but it becomes clearer if you go to this website, where they will tell you what legislation they like, what they don’t and what you can do about it.
Swartz, who is the subject of the new documentary (preview below), “The Internet’s Own Boy,” took his life after the U.S. government hounded him over downloading journal articles. Swartz was a genius who helped create Reddit and RSS, and as an activist he sought to make the world and the Internet better and freer for all of us. This day is in his honor.
— Posted by Peter Z. Scheer
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On Jan. 6, Brian Knappenberger, director of the buzz-magnet documentary "The Internet's Own Boy," sat down with Boing Boing's Xeni Jardin in Los Angeles at the Annenberg Space for Photography to talk about his iconic subject, Aaron Swartz, and the impact of his life's work and legacy.
Journals like Science and other paid subscription sources should make their content available to the public for free.
With his Mayday PAC, the Harvard legal scholar and civil libertarian has emerged as the chief executor of Aaron Swartz's vision of a free, creative and open America in the digital age.
A champion of the Internet and governmental reform is celebrated around the world Saturday. His suicide -- committed under a threat of prosecution -- did not end the fight for his causes.
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