Fight for the Future came up with the idea of an online demonstration more than two months ago, which evolved into last week’s event. It is also credited with helping to organize businesses and Web users against the legislation, which until then appeared to be speeding through Congress. It also built some of the software that allowed websites to go dark.
The group “helped mobilize the community of technology companies and public interest groups and ensured our collective focus was on informing the legislative process,’’ said Alex Fowler, head of privacy and public policy for the Mozilla Foundation. Mozilla darkened its popular Firefox browser for 24 hours last week Wednesday, as did Wikipedia, Tumblr, and thousands of other sites.
Fight for the Future, Fowler said, helped make it “a watershed moment for online advocacy and public policy.’’
Jay Walsh, spokesman for Wikimedia, whose foundation operates Wikipedia, said, “We were listening to what they were saying.’’ Ultimately, it was up to Wikipedia editors to decide whether to take down the English version of the site Jan. 18, Walsh said. When it became clear that they favored such an action, the day of Web activism was launched to a higher level.
“I’m in awe that it happened,’’ Tiffiniy Cheng, 31, Fight for the Future’s cofounder, said of the protest. “But I’m not surprised people got involved. It was obvious to us that this was an issue that Internet users cared about.’’
Groups such as the Recording Industry Association of America and the Motion Picture Association of America, two major backers of the bills now stalled in Congress, say they are frustrated by the position of online-advocacy groups such as Fight for the Future.
