Internet freedom, free culture, and free information: Aaron Swartz and cyberlibertarianism’s neoliberal turn

Abstract

Even before his death in 2013, the federal prosecution of Aaron Swartz for hacking crimes was being called a “cause celebre” of activists protesting government regulation of the Internet. After his death, Swartz became what some called a “Cyber martyr” for the ideals of Internet freedom, free culture, and free information. This study focuses on the journalism surrounding Swartz, exploring how the ideals and values of cyberlibertarianism—a combination of techno-utopian enthusiasm and libertarian approaches to free speech and market principles—were embodied by Swartz in the press’s interpretations of his actions, life, and early death. The press, for the most part, boiled the apparent contradictions of this ideology down into a simple narrative about Swartz as a political activist in a way that not only failed to challenge the corporate neoliberal order emerging online, but also helped lay the ideological foundations for it among a broader public.