The Fight For The Open Internet
Composed of interviews from stalwart advocates such as Tim Wu, Lawrence Lessig & Peter Ludlow, the 2017 documentary, Killswitch, provides a great primer to the information policy wars that have raged over the past two decades. Focusing on Aaron Swartz and Edward Snowden, filmmaker Ali Akbarzadehan captures a clear message of activism for our own freedom of expression, the freedom of the press and other civil liberties that are challenged by bumbling bureaucracies attempting to legislate that which they do not understand.
Shining light on landmark cases that diminish our ability to use software without becoming criminals (see Computer Fraud & Abuse Act) as well as reviewing the purposeful publications of Swartz’s Guerilla Open Access Manifesto, the film examines the events that helped to frame the current landscape of the debates on Net Neutrality, the fight against legislations like SOP (Stop Online Piracy Act) and PIPA (Protect IP Act), and the importance of the need to protect a free and open internet.