Grayson Screens Award-Winning “Killswitch” Documentary on the War to Control the Internet
(WASHINGTON, D.C.) – Congressman Alan Grayson (FL-9) this evening will offer a screening of the award-winning documentary, “Killswitch: The Battle to Control the Internet,” giving members of Congress one of the most honest accounts of the battle to control the Internet -- and access to information itself.
“This movie shows the harrowing costs that have been paid to preserve an open Internet. Aaron Swartz was driven to take his own life, and Edward Snowden had to flee his home and country,” said Congressman Grayson. “Those costs are raising the price of our own liberty. I will continue to fight in Congress for Americans’ access to a free flow of information, and our human right to keep personal communications private.”
The film’s screening will occur at 7 p.m. at the U.S. Capital Visitors Center (Orientation Theatre South.) Afterwards, a discussion of the film and the vital issues it frames will be held along with Free Press President Craig Aaron, and Lawrence Lessig, a law professor and director of the Edmond J. Safra Center for Ethics at Harvard University.
Lessig is featured in the film that revolves around Snowden and Swartz, two internationally-known “hacktivists.” Both men fought to free up information on the Internet, and as the movie explains, that put “them directly in the cross-hairs of the most powerful interest in the world.”
“More than four million Americans from across the political spectrum have engaged with the FCC in a historic public process as they decide the fate of the Internet,” Lessig said. “Now Congress must respect that process and the American people who advocated a free and open Internet that fosters innovation, economic growth, and democratic communication.”
Craig Aaron has been a front-line fighter with the Federal Communications Commission in the fight to preserve citizens’ access to a free and open Internet.
“On the verge of a historic win on Net Neutrality, we’ve just scratched the surface of the Internet’s potential to bring people together around the most pressing social and political issues – including the future of the Internet itself,” Aaron said. “But powerful government and corporate forces across the globe want to monitor, censor and control what we do online. Films like Killswitch and discussions like this one will be crucial to educating and mobilizing people so we can turn this exciting moment into a political movement.”
Congressman Alan Grayson represents Florida’s 9th Congressional District, which includes Osceola County, as well as parts of Orange and Polk counties. He previously served as the U.S. Representative for Florida's 8th Congressional District in the 111th Congress.
