Abby Martin Breaks the Set One Last Time

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In case you don’t have 30 minutes to spare, check out the best of Breaking the Set montage of our favorite guests and monologues calling out the corporatocracy, war criminals and lackey stenographers.

Best of Breaking the Set

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I approached every Breaking the Set with a soul permeating passion, so it was hard not to become emotional about it ending.

Never Stop Breaking the Set!

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For those that are concerned about where I’m going, please read here and note I’ll still be producing podcasts on Media Roots, video reports, interviews and on-the-road engagements until I get another show up and running. Stay tuned to my social media accounts for updates.

Thank you all endlessly for your support, together we will never stop Breaking the Set!

Abby | @AbbyMartin

He was the target of a merciless witch-hunt by the Department of Justice, ultimately choosing death over 35 years behind bars for the crime of releasing information. As someone who transformed the way we all use and love the internet, Aaron should have gotten a medal of honor, not a death sentence.

Aaron’s genius mark on the web can be traced back to the development of RSS feeds, a formula that produces a feed of whatever information one chooses to access, changing the way we filter and aggregate data. His passion for making information open source was exemplified in his partnership with Lawrence Lessig at only 15 years old, when he coded creative commons, a database devoted to growing the amount of creative works available to share and build off of. This revolutionized what was capable online, allowing people to use imagery without worrying about copyright or legal ramifications.

Perhaps Aaron’s mark will most be felt by co-founding Reddit, one of the most visited sites in the world that embodies what raw and free access looks like. After Reddit exploded, Aaron sold it for over a million dollars. But he rejected the business world, and instead put his entire being into political activism. He began openlibrary.org, a site that allows users to buy, borrow or browse every published book in the world. The project cemented his obsession with freeing the mind of humanity from its elite clutches. Sadly, it was this beautiful idea that came to define Aaron as a criminal that deserved more time in prison than murderers in the eyes of the federal government

The majority of the wealth of human knowledge is owned by a few publishing companies that hoard information and make billions off licensing fees, although most scholarly articles and journals are paid for by taxpayers through government grants. Aaron sought to change this.

He wrote about his plans to release academic journals and expressed outrage about prosecutorial overreach on the Guerilla Open Access Manifesto in 2008:

“It’s called stealing or piracy, as if sharing a wealth of knowledge were the moral equivalent of plundering a ship and murdering its crew. But sharing isn’t immoral — it’s a moral imperative. Only those blinded by greed would refuse to let a friend make a copy…

There is no justice in following unjust laws. It’s time to come into the light and, in the grand tradition of civil disobedience, declare our opposition to this private theft of public culture….With enough of us, around the world, we’ll not just send a strong message opposing the privatization of knowledge — we’ll make it a thing of the past.”

His first target was JSTOR, a digital library of academic journals and books. But as he attempted to download millions of articles from JSTOR at MIT, authorities were filming him through a surveillance camera. Aaron’s altruism came at a heavy price. The footage was used to charge him with computer and wire fraud, which would have locked him up for decades.

Aaron praised the internet’s ability to give everyone a license to speak, but noted how many of those voices won’t get heard, which is why he dedicated the last year of his life leading the charge against corporate monopolization of the web with legislation like SOPA and PIPA.

Aaron Swartz sacrificed himself to better the world. His blood is on the US government’s hands for institutionalizing a two tiered justice system that immunizes criminals and bone chillingly destroys revolutionaries.

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Breaking the Set on Aaron Swartz’s legacy

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Please watch the documentary about Aaron that inspired me to write this tribute, called “The Internet’s Own Boy”.

The Internet’s Own Boy

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Abby Martin / @AbbyMartin

Photo by flickr user Quinn Norton

Robbie Martin talks to Cullen Hoback, privacy advocate and creator of Terms and Conditions May Apply, a must-watch documentary about digital privacy rights, corporate/government spying collusion and the data mining economy of corporate surveillance.

Terms and Conditions May Apply premiered a few months before the world learned Edward Snowden’s name. Following the leaks, Cullen’s thesis was emboldened, so he added an addendum contextualizing them.

Watch the trailer:

Terms and Conditions May Apply

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Be sure to listen to our previous Media Roots Radio episode ‘Occupy Silicon Valley‘ for more information on the history of Silicon Valley and why there is so much missing outrage over private sector spying.

If you would like to directly download the podcast click the down arrow icon on the right of the Soundcloud display. To hide the comments to enable easier rewind and fast forward, click on the icon on the very bottom right.

This Media Roots podcast is the product of many long hours of hard work and love. If you want to encourage our voice, please consider supporting us as we continue to speak from outside party lines. Even the smallest donations help us with operating costs.

Listen to all previous episodes of Media Roots Radio here.

Follow Robbie @fluorescentgrey

Abby and Robbie Martin discuss the potentiality of an ‘Occupy Silicon Valley’ protest movement in a similar mold to ‘Occupy Oakland’ taking place in California’s San Francisco Bay Area. They address the ethical issues revolving around tech-companies like Facebook, Google, Apple, Microsoft, Soundcloud and debunk the notion that private corporations will install privacy safeguards on their own without the pressure of public consumer outrage. Robbie goes into the history of Silicon Valley’s roots, which tie directly to the Pentagon’s post-WWII defense industry private sector push.

Watch Robbie Martin talk about Facebook’s new police force and why Occupy Wall Street should take on Silicon Valley on Breaking the Set:

Robbie Martin Breaks the Set on Occupy Silicon Valley 

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If you would like to directly download the podcast click the down arrow icon on the right of the Soundcloud display. To hide the comments to enable easier rewind and fast forward, click on the icon on the very bottom right.

This Media Roots podcast is the product of many long hours of hard work and love. If you want to encourage our voice, please consider supporting us as we continue to speak from outside party lines. Even the smallest donations help us with operating costs.

Listen to all previous episodes of Media Roots Radio here.

Follow Abby @abbymartin & Robbie @fluorescentgrey

After the document was leaked, hundreds of thousands of Internet advocates flooded the FCC with calls and emails to oppose the pro-business proposal. Putting words to action, dozens of activists also formed a “People’s Firewall” for eight days outside the FCC to demand an Internet free from corporate corruption.

The people’s strong response forced the corporate media to finally cover the issue. As TIME Magazine reported:

“The Internet has become a new public utility, many Net-neutrality advocates argue, and should be treated as such. The nation’s largest cable and phone companies fiercely oppose that idea — fearing greater regulation — and are mobilizing their lobbyists and allies on Capitol Hill to push back.

“The FCC’s eighth-floor executive office has been thrown into chaos amid a mounting backlash that shut down its phone lines as a growing number of open-Internet advocates camp out in front of their office.”

FCC chair Thom Wheeler even stopped by the camp to declare his support for an “open” Internet. Unfortunately, his rules benefit no one but giant telecommunications corporations. We must force the FCC to change these rules by reclassifying the Net as a common carrier so it can be regulated to protect Net Neutrality.

Thankfully, enormous people’s pressure has already forced the FCC to consider implementing the Internet common carrier status. But we need to work together to push the commission to cement the notion of Net Neutrality once and for all.

Over the next four months, the FCC is hosting a public comment section through its official channels. During this time, education will be key to develop a national consensus that the Internet should operate as a public utility, with equal access to all.

Check out Abby Martin’s interview with Matt Wood, Director of Free Press, about why you should care about the death of Net Neutrality:

Matt Wood of Free Press on the Death of Net Neutrality

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Another must watch piece is Breaking the Set‘s coverage of the FCC protests and interview with Casey Rae, Director of Future of Music Coalition, about why Net Neutrality means so much to independent artists and musicians (Segment starts at 2:24).

Breaking the Set on the Fight to Save Internet Freedom

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Take Action Now

Submit your comment to the FCC here.

Here’s a blueprint:

“I urge you to reject the rules proposed on May 15, 2014 and restore online nondiscrimination by reclassifying broadband as a telecommunications service.

The FCC claims it wants an open Internet without fee based tiers, but the court has made it clear this can only be accomplished by reclassifying the Internet as a common carrier. This label is consistent with what the Internet is: a public utility where people have equal access to all sites and all sites are treated equally.

Please cement Net Neutrality into law.”

Written by Kevin Zeese and Margaret Flowers. Edited by Abby Martin, photo by Internet Rock