I've just watched this with my roommates, and I think we're in consensus that Aaron's beliefs, to make the Public Domain actually public and universally share information so that we may be push forward the progress of humanity, are undoubtedly correct.
What I would like to know at this time is how to make Aaron's beliefs a reality. What can I do? What can my roommates do? What can anyone do?
Ideally, I also don't think that this is a zero sum game. We can all be winners. I'd like to believe that we can all be winners.
The first thing you need to decide is, do you want to work within the law, and try to change the system from the inside, or do you think the system is so corrupt that it can't be changed from the inside, so the only option is to take it down from the outside? Swartz appears to have believed that the second option was the only option, at least in the case under discussion. Do you agree?
I'd like to believe that we can all be winners.
I think you're underestimating the greed and the ego of the people who currently have "ownership" rights to so much information that was supposedly the property of the public, since we paid for it being produced in the first place. Those people are not going to give up their cash cow willingly, and if they are forced to give it up, they will not feel like they are "winners". If that were going to happen, it would have happened years ago, once it became obvious to anyone with half a brain that the Internet was a viable means of distribution for information that belongs to the public--that, for example, scientific papers belong on arxiv.org, not locked up in some journal that charges exorbitant fees for access.
In other words, when you're up against greed and ego, thinking that "we can all be winners" is a recipe for failure. The people who are keeping this system propped up need to lose. Anything less won't achieve the goal.
Or to put it still another way: the ones making it a zero-sum game are the publishers trying to hang on to their cash cow, not us.
Another is to write to your representatives in Congress demanding accountability for prosecutors and Stephen Heymann in particular. The web forms actually do get tallied by interns and closely monitored by staffers when there's a spike.
I think Aaron would have advocated--as the movie aptly points out--a re-thinking of one's approach to life in a way that involves more political activism than we're typically used to, versus a one-time reaction. There's a wide range of political issues for people to make their voices heard on.
Directly related to Aaron's interests, I'm suing the Courts over PACER and other related issues. See http://www.plainsite.org/dockets/29himg3wm/california-northe... , where document 23, the First Amended Complaint, is the main one to read. If anyone wants to file an amicus brief/write a letter to the judge in the case and/or the Administrative Office of the Courts, this would be a good time to do it.
You have excellent suggestions. I will try to follow up.
A strategy that I am taking is the promotion of Computer Science education and the use of open source technology. Computer Science needs to be cheaper, easier and more attractive to learn. We need more teachers, better communication between the school and the office, and more girls studying CS.
What I would like to know at this time is how to make Aaron's beliefs a reality. What can I do? What can my roommates do? What can anyone do?
Ideally, I also don't think that this is a zero sum game. We can all be winners. I'd like to believe that we can all be winners.