Caught in the Net

Aaron Swartz isn’t a household name, but in the age of threatened net neutrality, NSA spying and the fight for a free Internet, he should be. His accomplishments co-founding the influential website Reddit and helping develop key Internet architecture were impressive enough, but it was his political activism — fighting...

By Cory Casciato

June 26, 2014

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Aaron Swartz isn’t a household name, but in the age of threatened net neutrality, NSA spying and the fight for a free Internet, he should be. His accomplishments co-founding the influential website Reddit and helping develop key Internet architecture were impressive enough, but it was his political activism — fighting to defeat the toxic Stop Online Piracy Act bill and working to ensure free access to public information — that led to his run-in with federal authorities and, ultimately, his death.

Now his story is being told in The Internet’s Own Boy, a moving documentary that illuminates the life and work of a man who not only helped shape the technology of the Internet we use every day, but dedicated his life to keeping it free and open.

“This is one of the best, if not the best, doc I saw at Sundance,” says Ernie Quiroz, programming manager for the Denver Film Society. “[Swartz] barely died a year ago, and the issues are still relevant — this stuff is happening right now. He realized that the Internet was this political tool that needed to be in the hands of people.”

The film opens tonight at the Sie FilmCenter, 2510 East Colfax Avenue. Tickets are $10, or $7 for DFS members. For tickets and more information, including showtimes, visit denverfilm.org.
June 27-July 3, 2014

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