Required reading / viewing

[mikeizbicki]

Recall that in order to earn a grade that is at least an A- in this class, you must either read a section of The Art of Unix Programming or watch two documentaries. (Details and links are in the syllabus.) In order to get credit for having completed this assignment, you should reply to this post with a 2-3 sentence description of your favorite part of the reading/viewing.

[agulati18]

First and foremost, thank you so much for sharing those with us. It was incredibly insightful and opened my eyes to an open-source movement and eternal 'independence vs privacy' battle that I previously knew very little about.

With the genesis of the Open Source movement through Linux to Aaron Swartz's major contributions to where we are today, I believe that our society has seen tangible progression from the push to make the internet accessible to all and enable every individual to harness its true powers. However, even today, with what we see with Big Tech firms, their rootedness in our lives, and their overreaching power, these questions are more relevant than ever. I don't mean to cloud your inbox with my reflections, but it is such an incredible duality that I would love to talk about further with you.

[Michaelhess17]

I read the chapters from The Art of Unix Programming and learned a TON about the history, progress, and development of operating systems that really makes me appreciate how much time and effort goes into creating the operating systems we all generally take for granted. My favorite part of the reading was learning that much of the Unix/GNU (and others') evolution came about because quirky programmers enjoyed problem solving and tinkering with these systems. Their tinkering then made these products better, which attracted a wider range of developers who could tinker more, and that cycle keeps going until both the OS's backend engine and user interface are efficient and useful. What really struck me as interesting was the idea that Open Source software tends to be better than enterprise software not just because it's free, but because the collective development process actually tends to make the software work better and more efficiently than it's enterprise counterpart.

[mariagerges]

I watched the two documentaries "RevolutionOS" and "The Internet's Own Boy: The Story of Aaron Swartz." The two of them were just incredible!!

Both of them answered questions that I was asking when I was watching. Whenever I wanted an answer to a pressing question, it was always on the next scene—the flow of ideas and the organization were on point.

I also liked both because the documentaries showed part of the hackers' personal lives. Popular Hollywood movies usually depict hackers as these people sitting in their rooms all the time doing nothing but coding. However, these documentaries proved that there are some real-life top hackers, and they do have a social life and relationships and families.

In RevolutionOS, I felt very proud of universities' contributions in California, such as Stanford or Berkley. I also felt very proud of the contributions of American institutions in general. However, this sense of pride turned into shame when I watched how universities such as MIT reacted to Swartz's case and how they did not follow the values they claimed they had!!

By the end of the documentary about Aaron Swartz, I was so attached that I cried when they spoke about his death. It is such a shame that we lost a very creative and very passionate person to bureaucracy.

Overall, I really enjoyed watching both of these documentaries, and thank you so much for making that a part of the course. It was an enjoyable and informative experience!! :)

[JonathanContreras-bit]

I watched the documentaries and enjoyed the overarching theme in both to make software/knowledge accessible. Embedded in that goal is a sense of community, which Revolution OS depicted quite well. It was endearing to see people gather for the Install-fest as a testament to the community surrounding open-source, collaborative efforts. Plus, that Free Software Song slapped!

As for the Aaron Swartz documentary, I really appreciated his curiosity to question everything and challenge long-standing systems. Bringing to light the lack of transparency in the U.S. government, barriers to education, and the financial burden of the criminal justice system are topics of conversation still very much pertinent today. Mention of the teenager that helped pilot an advancement in pancreatic cancer diagnostics really helped tie the storyline back to why what Swartz was advocating for was important. Good watch!

[DestrosCMC]

I watched the two documentaries and learned a lot about the history of programming.

I didn't know the origin of Firefox and its interesting story. I also liked learning about the Red Hat IPO because it is an intersection of tech and finance. I also like Linus saying even though he didn't make money from red hat, a rising tide lifts all ships. It was also cool to learn about the academic publishing space and how copyrights are handed over to corporations.

[aaronxie0000]

Of the two assigned documentaries I watched, I found the one about Swartz the most interesting as it highlighted the connection between tech and legislation that I hadn't considered much before. It was mind-boggling the out-of-date and out-of-touch law (like the CFAA at the time) is governing the internet and information access. But it was also inspiring to see how public action can sway legislation (like with SOPA).

[brandonsrho57]

Hi Mike! I watched the two documentaries RevolutionOS and The Internet's Own Boy: The Story of Aaron Swartz. I wanted to comment on the incredible story (and "downfall") of Aaron Swartz. One of the most eye-opening parts of the documentary was of the Guerilla Open Access Manifesto and its brilliance. (Even after watching the documentary, I read the pdf!) Swartz stood for the freedom of the internet and the fact that 'Information is Power'. This cannot be overstated today and it's truly unfortunate that he was prosecuted to be used as an 'example' (however thankfully he became a spark for a bigger movement).

[yilinli22]

I watched the two documentaries RevolutionOS and The Internet's Own Boy: The Story of Aaron Swartz. My favorite part of the two documentaries was how Aaron Swartz decided to fight against the "unjust law" by downloading the database of jounal articles. He fought for net neutrality and calls for access to knowledge to become not a privilege but a right. It was heartbreaking to see that the instiutions that that should have defended him (like MIT) decided to "remain neutral", which was a betrayal to Aaron, as well as a betrayal to their own education missions. These two documentaries made me feel so grateful for the open source web we have now, and make me feel that we still need to fight against keeping information and knowledge as property of profit-corporations. “Now everyone has a license to speak, it’s a question of who gets heard.”

[sam9807]

I just finished watching the two documentaries! First of all, thank you for the interesting resources I wouldn't have been able to look them up myself. The documentaries really helped me understand not only the history of open source but also the free software movement. My favorite part of the two documentaries was the life story of Aaron Swartz because it really broadened my perspective both in the field of academia and in legislation. Honestly, I would have never had an opportunity to imagine these discrepancies in values and the number of challenges that we had to go through as a society to be where we are today. Watching these documentaries made me appreciate the contributions that different developers have made in the past and it encouraged me to be such a developer myself for the future generation!

[dwang862]

I watched the RevolutionOS and The Internet's Own Boy documentaries and I really enjoyed both of them!

In RevolutionOS, I learned that all the open source programs we have today started with the “Free Software Movement,” and it put into perspective how revolutionary Linux’ challenging of Microsoft and the Windows operating system was. This historical battle between freedom and centralization/ownership, manifesting today through crypto/blockchain vs. centralized money markets, is interesting to explore through the conflict between Linux and Microsoft 20-years ago. It is also enlightening to see hardware companies like Toshiba and IBM enabling the open-source revolution, allowing consumers to buy hardware without a Windows operating system.

In the documentary of Aaron Swartz, my first favorite moment was when Aaron coded an early version of Wikipedia when he was 12 years-old! It was clear from the very beginning of the documentary that Aaron Swartz was a special individual with brilliant technological and software ideas. Then, his political activism revolving around the SOPA Act was a very enjoyable story, as the Internet literally came together to battle Congress.

[dustin-lind]

I opted to watch RevolutionOS and Internet's Own Boy. I had to pay close attention to RevolutionOS because there were multiple instances where some unfamiliar technical terms were thrown around!

My favorite part from RevolutionOS was to learn about the motivating factors driving the creation of GNU/Linux. Richard Stallman, Linus Torvalds, and many early "hackers" were frequently exposed to the limitations of a market dominated by proprietary operating systems. For example, Stallman mentioned a time where he was experiencing a bug while running a program on a propriety operating system, but because the source code was closed he couldn't fix the bug! I'm glad that programmers banded together to create GNU/Lunix because it has probably allowed programmers to explore new boundaries and not be subjected to the boundaries set out by Apple and Microsoft's programmers.

In Internet's Own Boy, it was fascinating to watch the story of a bright, young programmer challenge to fight for easier access to knowledge. Additionally, it was very surprising and upsetting to learn about the unfair business model deployed by JSTOR, Springer, and others who profit off of the labor of researchers around the world and restrict access to knowledge to those who can afford it. This system should change because it seems backward.

[kingeddy11]

I read the section of The Art of Unix Programming and was very intrigued by the uniqueness, rich history, development, and evolution of Unix and other competing operating systems. First off, the principles of which Unix was built upon such as writing programs that do one thing and do it well along with forming a production line of simple programs that are intertwined and operate in unison are analogous to how a successful business operates with many departments that specialize in specific areas. Additionally, Unix really embodies the KISS ideology with extra emphasis on creating small, visually clean programs that get the job done rather than large, complex programs. My favorite part of the reading was discovering that one of the initial motivating factors for Ken Thompson to start constructing Unix was because he was left without a machine to play a game he had written called Space Travel, which involved navigating a rocket through the solar system. Sometimes small motivating factors may lead to world-changing creations.

[Tonnpo]

I viewed Revolution OS and Internet's Own Boy. I truly thank you, Mike, for sharing these with us. I have learned so much about history and why and how we do what we do today. This gives me lots of insight about how society has changed relating to software. I really like the part where they describe how people misunderstood the definition of "Free software" because I was one of those people too. I used to think that if everyone can have it, why should it have a value? I am totally wrong on this. Another part I like was when Microsoft kind of hurts itself because people who didn't use their software wanted a refund. That's kind of what should expect, right? If you sell it and people don't actually use it, then it's worthless and people would want a refund. Unlike free software, it only encourages people to learn, try, have fun, and help each other out. Right now, I feel very much engaged with the open source community, I believe in the goal which is to make society better.

[snarayan23]

I watched the documentaries and really enjoyed them. Thank you for sharing them with us! My favorite part about the documentaries was the way the used programming and coding to make the world a better place. There was an overall theme of making knowledge accessible and available to everyone. One of the most interesting parts of the documentary on Aaron Swartz was when they talked about the discrepancies in the availability of scholarly journals, like Jstor, and how that contributes to the information available to the public domain. While using scholarly journals, I never thought about this discrepancy or how this information wasn't freely accessible to everyone. This documentary really opened my eye to the importance of making information available to the public. Additionally, one of the biggest takeaways I had from this same documentary was at the end when they discussed the legacy that Aaron left.

[nishka-ayyar]

I chose to watch the documentaries “Revolution OS” and “The Internet's Own Boy: The Story of Aaron Swartz”. They were really interesting, and although both documentaries featured topics I was familiar with, there was also so much I did not know, and I learned a lot from watching (especially the story of Aaron Swartz, because I hadn’t heard of him before). There were two parts of Revolution OS that I found especially interesting: the first was in the beginning hearing Bill Gates’s plea about not sharing software, and the second was the controversy over the name “Linux” and Linus Torvald’s take on the justification of the name. As I said above, I learned a lot from hearing Aaron Swartz story, and it definitely elicited a much more emotional response from me than Revolution OS did. Again, two aspects stood out to me. The first, my “favorite” part, was the fact that Aaron was so clearly a prodigy from such a young age. I was completely fascinated at how much knowledge he possessed as a child. The second part, one that I feel sort of angry..? about, is how unfair the system was to Aaron, and how determined they were to take him down. Since I hadn't read or heard about this story previously, I didn't know how it ended, and I was again angry about that, although not too surprised. It really opened my eyes to the governmental/legislative aspect of technology, one I hadn’t thought about previously at all. In any case, I’m really glad I watched these documentaries - thank you for sharing!

[sepstein22]

I decided to watch the two documentaries RevolutionOS and The Internet's Own Boy: The Story of Aaron Swartz. As the two documentaries unfolded, I learned a lot of the legal implications of code and the complexities of open source content.

While Aaron Swartz's story, life as a prodigy, accomplishments, and sacrifices to fight for the right of knowledge were incredible one line from the film regarding the development of internet stood out. In highlighting the development of open source content and availability the narrator stated today everyone has the license to speak just it depends on who gets heard. This statement made me wonder if the traditional gatekeepers to politics, media, and justice have in fact been taken down and decentralized to return power to the public. As the story of Aaron Swartz depicted we still have a significant amount of growth to achieve. While I do support Swartz's actions and efforts, there was a bias nature to the film. As a result, I am interested in learning more from the government's prospective and the story of those opposing him. RevolutionOS, similarly, taught me a myriad of details regarding the origin of Linux and Open Source Software and the motivations behind it. The documentary became particularly interesting to me due to its presentation style through the lens of a hacker.

Much to my surprise, I really enjoyed the documentaries overall!

[cristywei]

I watched RevolutionOS and The Internet's Own Boy: The Story of Aaron Swartz. My favorite part was seeing Aaron Swartz’s dedication to the open access of information and his journey as a child growing up and working on entrepreneur pursuits before moving more towards political activism. It was interesting to see Swartz’s criticisms of our society and of the government, along with the commentary from people who knew Aaron Swartz, such as when they talked about how the congressmen weren’t knowledgeable about the topics they try to regulate or criticisms of the education system. It’s clear that from a young age he was a brilliant person, and I admire his dedication to his beliefs despite sometimes having to fight what he believed would be a losing battle. It was a bit upsetting to see how the justice system and the prosecutors treated him and how MIT refused to take a stance in his prosecution despite their claims of supporting the open access of information. Although he clearly left behind a legacy, and despite some of the progress that has been made since his death, I believe many of his criticisms are still valid today.

[RuiluGao]

I read the three chapters from The Art of Unix Programming and I found the book to be so inspiring and informative. I would really like to thank you for providing such great resources for us to learn and to gain more perspectives about Unix and about programming as a whole. My favorite part of the book is in the first chapter in which the book discusses implicit Unix philosophy. Have been working with Unix and programming for quite a long time, I have never been formally told with many of these philosophies. However, I do realize that I have been using many of these rules implicitly for so long. By reading the book, I really appreciate such an opportunity for me to formally learn these rules and I believe it will greatly help me to build a solid base for doing programming in the future.

[charlizeandaya]

I chose to watch the two documentaries RevolutionOS and The Internet's Own Boy: The Story of Aaron Swartz, where I learned so much new and valuable information about the internet and technology. After watching the documentaries, Aaron's passion not just about programming but about doing the right thing for the greater community is what really sparked my interest. I loved that the film included videos of Aaron as a young boy because you could just tell he loved learning and sharing that knowledge with those around him. He was never afraid to voice his opinions and be an activist for those around him which really shows his selflessness. It was upsetting to hear how MIT would not stand by him and instead opted to stay neutral. I believe it was his brother who said that staying neutral is the same thing as being pro-persecution, which I completely agree with. Overall, these documentaries help viewers to gain insight into how much technology really affects our daily lives in so many different aspects.

[samcbogen]

I watched the two documentaries, RevolutionOS as well as The Internet’s Own Boy: The Story of Aaron Swartz. I will bring up a highlight from each documentary for this. In RevolutionOS, I definitely enjoyed the portrayal of the Open-Source developed as the “underdogs” agains the major tech companies (I remember in particular Eric Raymond telling someone from Microsoft something along the lines of “I’m your worst nightmare”). To treat the open source “era” as more of a movement was not something I had thought about, so thank you for sharing this documentary with us. In The Internet’s Own Boy: The Story of Aaron Swartz, I enjoyed learning about Aaron Swartz’s story as well as the more policy-oriented side of the internet. Learning about his fight for things like net neutrality and open access was eye-opening for me, and I will definitely be doing my own research there!

[emmacgodfrey]

Hello! I watched both RevolutionOS and The Internet's Own Boy: The Story of Aaron Swartz. While "RevolutionOS" definitely opened my eyes to the way the software world used to operate (i.e. closed-source), I was significantly more interested and moved by the documentary about Aaron Swartz. More specifically, the documentary really made my insides boil when I see Swartz undergo spying, arrest, and ultimately tragedy for his well-intentioned work involving net neutrality and open access to information. While his actions at points may have been questionable, they pale in comparison to the daily atrocities that occur in the business, finance, and politics world. I'm really looking forward to learning more about the battle of open access to information and perhaps delving into the arguments from those who want to keep information private as I don't think the documentary fully covered these reasons.

[nickwilson3]

Hi Mike, I read chapters 1-3 of The Art of Unix Programming. I especially enjoyed reading about the philosophy of Unix. I took my ethics requirement for the Data Science major this semester and learned about the philosophy of technology and machines, so being able to combine that knowledge and use that to reflect on the philosophy of Unix was great. I especially appreciated Doug McIlroy's philosophy of "make each program do one thing well". This resonated with me because it seemed like a similar philosophy to the assignments we were doing this year where we worked on one function one week, then another function the next, then combined them all at the end. It was a pleasure taking your class. - Nick Wilson

[JustinEsters]

I just finished reading the three chapters of The Art of Unix Programming. It was extremely interesting to learn about the world of Unix. I feel that it is great exposure to something new that I never knew existed. I never understood how many different parts of the internet there truly are. There are so many standards and intricacies that clearly make it what it is today. The idea of open-source coding and code sharing is truly genius and I wonder where we would be today without Unix. I also really enjoyed learning about the battle of Unix functionality being free and how companies attempted to profit off of it. Lastly, I thought it was interesting to learn about the differences between operating systems and their adaptability with Unix. Overall, it was a very interesting read.

[ktzchen]

For this assignment, I chose to watch the two documentaries: "The Internet's Own Boy: The Story of Aaron Swartz" and "Revolution OS". I really enjoyed learning about hacktivism in "The Internet's Own Boy". Considering Aaron Swartz's impact on the internet as we know it today, I was incredibly surprised that I had never heard of him before I watched the documentary. As a college student, I really resonated with Aaron Swartz's sentiments when he downloaded JSTOR articles; I also believe that gatekeeping in academia is counterintuitive considering the purposes of education. The documentary definitely left an impression on me, and I am definitely keeping an eye out for net neutrality related issues in the future.

[dnarula22]

Hi Mike! Thank you for teaching this wonderful class! I chose to read chapters 1-3 of The Art of Unix Programming. The first thing I found interesting in the reading was the durability of Unix and how "there is a fairly sharp distinction between transient knowledge and lasting knowledge". I think it is useful that there is clarity on what one must know and can utilize for decades. Another section I enjoyed reading was 'Basics of the Unix Philosophy', especially the 17 rules towards the end. Two rules in specific that resonated with me were those of clarity and simplicity. I have often overcomplicated my code in an attempt to be 'efficient' or 'clever' and ended up with errors that have racked my brain for hours. I could not agree more that "clarity is better than cleverness". To be honest, even with my minimal experience, every single one of those 17 rules was extremely relatable. Thank you once again for teaching this wonderful class, it was a pleasure!

[somu-a]

Hi Mike, I watched two documentaries "RevolutionOS" and "The Internet's Own Boy: The Story of Aaron Swartz." They both were incredibly interesting and thought it gave context and explanations for many of the items we take for granted now while also showing how CS can be used to improve the status quo. I particularly enjoyed “The Internet's Own Boy: The Story of Aaron Swartz." documentary. I thought it was interesting to gain insight into the intersection of technology and policy as that is one area that I believe is constantly changing and is one of immense importance. I also loved his outlook on programming and how it allows you to do actions that humans would otherwise not be able to. Furthermore, it was also inspiring to see him prioritize inclusivity and social impact over his own personal gain given his incredible programming skills.

[nmpatterson22]

Hello! I watched both "RevolutionOS" and the "The Internet's Own Boy: The Story of Aaron Swartz." For RevolutionOS it was interesting to learn the differing philosophies behind "free software", specifically the framing of Raymond and co. as the underdogs vs. modern day "big tech". It taught me a great deal about the silent battle that is often waged when revolutionary ideas and technology are fighting to emerge and create a framework to navigate the world. As I watched this I thought about the paradigms and rules we have accepted as written in stone for navigating the internet, software development, and technology in general. On the other hand, "The Internet's Own Boy: The Story of Aaron Swartz" was a far more emotionally compelling story. While both movies dug into the philosophical underpinnings of the open software movement , it was striking to think that this iconoclast and prodigy (Aaron Swartz) for the modern-day internet has been largely neglected from this story. One particular moment struck me: Aaron is a young boy talking about the role disseminating information should play in the internet's development. From an individual perspective it was fascinating to see someone so young with such a core idealogical drive to make sure the gates to information were as wide as possible. I truly enjoyed and learned a lot from both of these, but especially appreciate the newfound knowledge and background context I have gained for future endeavors.

[ohorban]

Hi Mike, I watched the two documentaries. I really enjoyed The Internet's Own Boy and I almost cried at the end. Now I understand more why you always share links to free textbooks lol.

[axelahdritz]

It is hard to vocalize my disappointment in the US government after viewing "The Internet's Own Boy." The thought that many of those fighting for the freedom of this nation are abused in the manner that Aaron Swartz was—to protect the interests of the corporate world—grieves me deeply. It's a shame that understanding always lags behind action, that "truth" falls under the purview of power. Both this movie and "Revolution OS" remind me that we live in a panopticon, and are largely unaware of the struggles of those trying to make change.

[joeybodoia]

Hey Mike, hope you're having a good weekend. I watched "The Internet’s Own Boy: The Story of Aaron Swartz" and "RevolutionOS". I’ll start with The Internet’s Own Boy: The Story of Aaron Swartz. I found this documentary to not only be interesting, but also inspirational in many ways. It was inspiring to see such a bright young mind use his programming abilities to fight for social causes that he believed in, rather than merely aiming to acquire as much money as he could. Throughout the documentary, I was exposed to interesting information that I hadn’t previously been aware of. For instance, the idea that lots of ‘public domain information’ is, in many ways, not all that accessible to the public, e.g. public court information. It was really cool to see a real-world application of parallel processing when Aaron downloaded approximately 2.7 million federal court documents in parallel. Furthermore, I found Aaron's legal battle over the academic journals that he downloaded from J Stor to be thought-provoking. On a legal level, it is clear that laws were broken by Aaron’s actions. However, on a moral level, it is much less black and white. In any case, the government’s punishment for Aaron seemed like a tragic overreaction to me that ultimately resulted loss of a transformative and influential young man. Lastly, my favorite part of the documentary was watching Aaron successfully spark enough backlash against SOPA to prevent the bill from passing. Finally, Aaron got a win! Overall, I thoroughly enjoyed learning more about one of the key creators of Reddit, one of my favorite websites. Next, RevolutionOS. This documentary shed light on the free software movement, highlighting the work of proponents of Open-Source Software, e.g. Richard Stallman, who disagreed, on a fundamental level, with proprietary software. It was fascinating to get a better idea of how the free software movement started with Richard Stallman and GNU, as well as how it sparked a collaborative environment within the software community. My favorite part of the documentary was hearing Richard Stallman talk about how GNU was a recursive acronym that stood for “GNU’s Not Unix”, and seeing how proud he was of the name (I agree that it's a pretty great name). Overall, I felt like I learned a lot of interesting information in both of these documentaries, thank you for the recommendations.

[vbopardi]

I saw both The Internet’s Own Boy: The Story of Aaron Swartz and RevolutionOS. Aaron Swartz' story resonated with me, especially what he said about using the magic he has to do good. As someone who has tried to use my privilege to help others, I was impressed with Swartz' sacrifices. He could have easily gone and worked at a big tech company and made a lot of money (which he almost did with Reddit). Instead, he decided to use his technical expertise to call out issues with the Internet, like access to academia (JSTOR) and litigation (PACER). I think much of what he was tackling relates to many of the modern problems we have with technology today, such as those presented in the Netflix documentary A Social Dilemma (which I HIGHLY recommend everyone check out). It is just another reminder that as we get back to normal from a pandemic perspective, we cannot let big tech and government go back to what "normal" is for them which means exploiting and taking advantage of ordinary citizens, like they did with Swartz. Though heartbreaking, I truly enjoyed learning about Aaron Swartz and learning about open source in RevolutionOS.

Thanks for a fantastic CS46 experience Mike, and congrats to everyone on finishing the semester!

[mjotsuka]

I chose to watch the two documentaries about open source. I found them both extremely interesting and I really enjoyed watching both of them as they gave me some perspectives that I had not thought about before. Power structure and technological advancements and their impact on society have always been something that sparks my interest. It is crazy how much the increase of shared knowledge has changed and when implemented properly makes society as a whole better as it truly impacts our lives. As I watched The Internet's Own Boy, I was constantly inspired by Aaron Swartz (especially at such a young age) and upset, but disappointedly not surprised, about how legislation and higher up people used their power. It was also incredibly interesting to watch RevolutionOS and see through the perspective of a hacker. Thank you for the great semester and I hope you have a wonderful summer!!

[rajbhutoria]

I viewed the two documentaries, The Internet’s Own Boy: The Story of Aaron Swartz and RevolutionOS. While RevolutionOS had important insights into the historical development of open-sourced software, I was particularly struck by the story of Aaron Swartz which demonstrated the critical -- and often adversarial -- relationship between politics and technological advancement.

Swartz, a technological pioneer for net neutrality and free information, was over-prosecuted by an insecure government threatened by its inability to control the dissemination of information (i.e. the Wikileaks scandal). However, what struck me most was not the charges laid by the government, but the complete betrayal of significant academic institutions (such as MIT) to defend Swartz against unjust prosecution. The issues Swartz touched on -- access to knowledge as a fundamental right and the government's unaccountable violation of individual privacy -- are more important than ever. At a time when the US government refuses to regulate predatory practices by large technology firms (in contrast with Europe, which implemented the GDPR in 2018), the abuse of non-violent activists such as Swartz is as alarming as it is infuriating. This documentary serves as an important reminder of the responsibility that we all have to protect individual rights to privacy and knowledge.