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Small Worcester group plays large role in online protest

THIS STORY APPEARED IN

January 26, 2012|By Michael B. Farrell

(Page 3 of 3)

They met in Worcester while attending theMassachusetts Academy of Math and Science, a school for some of state’s brightest 11th- and 12th-graders. In 2005, they formed the nonprofit Participatory Culture Foundation along with another Worcester resident, Nicholas Reville. With support from Mozilla and the MacArthur Foundation, it has created an open-source video and music sharing platform.

Fight for the Future got off the ground last fall with a $300,000 grant from the Media Democracy Fund, which supports public interest organizations that focus on digital rights. Its director, Helen Brunner, said the fund is finalizing another $759,000 grant for Fight for the Future.

Brunner said there are not enough groups mobilizing Web users for political and policy issues such as copyright law. Fight for the Future fills part of that void, she said.

And while the subject of Internet freedom is a serious one, Fight for the Future sometimes lightens the mood to get its message across. For instance, its first project last year was FreeBieber.org, a satirical site that took aim at Senate legislation, which it suggested would make it a felony to perform copyrighted material in online videos. They used Justin Bieber, who gained attention by singing Chris Brown songs on YouTube, to make a point about what the bill could mean to aspiring artists.

“Using humor is a good way to approach these issues, because it’s more interesting and compelling and it’s not someone lecturing you about what’s wrong with the world,’’ said Wilson. “It contributes to the debate in a new way.’’