Press Play with Madeleine Brand
The Internet’s Own Boy
The name Aaron Swartz may not ring a bell for most. But for the developer community, Swartz was a hero. He created the prototype for Wikipedia and helped create RSS feeds. He went on to co-found Reddit and helped kill an anti-piracy bill backed by Hollywood.
By Madeleine Brand • • 1 min readThe name Aaron Swartz may not ring a bell for most. But for the developer community, Swartz was a hero. He created the prototype for Wikipedia and helped create RSS feeds. He went on to co-found Reddit and helped kill an anti-piracy bill backed by Hollywood. But Swartz was under investigation for taking academic papers and making them freely available online. That’s when he killed himself at the age of 26. Brian Knappenberger’s new film takes a look at the government’s investigation and why Swartz may have taken his life.
