{"id":3796,"date":"2026-07-08T18:39:41","date_gmt":"2026-07-08T18:39:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/relocationobserver.com\/?p=3796"},"modified":"2026-07-08T18:39:41","modified_gmt":"2026-07-08T18:39:41","slug":"automattics-code-for-the-people-documentary-is-a-rallying-cry-for-users-to-fight-for-the-open-internet","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/relocationobserver.com\/?p=3796","title":{"rendered":"Automattic\u2019s \u2018Code for the People\u2019 Documentary Is a Rallying Cry for Users to Fight for the Open Internet"},"content":{"rendered":"
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\n\tThe free and open internet faces threats from companies propagating walled gardens designed to control your data and the rise of black-box AI systems. To preserve the vitality of the digital commons, individuals must take action to support the principles behind open-source code.<\/p>\n

Read more \u2018Dune 3\u2019 Trailer: Timoth\u00e9e Chalamet and Denis Villeneuve Unleash Action-Packed Scenes With More Zendaya, Jason Momoa and Sandworms<\/a><\/p>\n

\n\tThat\u2019s the message from \u201cCode for the People,\u201d a short documentary film funded by Automattic, the company behind WordPress, Tumblr, WooCommerce and other internet tools and services. The film, directed by award-winning filmmaker Bao Nguyen, in part tells the story of how CEO Matt Mullenweg founded what became Automattic, a company rooted in the philosophy of open-source software. But it\u2019s also a manifesto about the need to protect the open internet in the face of commercial interests that run counter to that ideal: Essentially, \u201cCode for the People\u201d is a recruitment video urging netizens to take part in the movement.<\/p>\n

\n\tThe New York premiere of \u201cCode for the People\u201d was held July 1 at the Crosby Street Hotel. Following the screening, Variety<\/em> moderated a conversation in partnership with Automattic Inc. about the film. (Watch the full panel discussion above.) \u201cCode for the People: The Human Story of the Open Web,\u201d which runs about 20 minutes, will be released for free online July 9 at codeforthepeople.com.<\/p>\n

\n\tIn addition to Bao Nguyen, speakers who participated in the Q&A were Paolo Belcastro, artistic director of the Domains Maisons at Automattic, who works at the intersection of product and operations; Anil Dash, a prominent technologist, writer and ethical-tech advocate who serves on the board of the Electronic Frontier Foundation; and Eric Binnion, payments engineering lead at Automattic.<\/p>\n

\n\tNguyen, whose work includes \u201cBTS: The Return,\u201d the Sundance-premiered \u201cBe Water\u201d and Netflix hit doc \u201cThe Greatest Night in Pop,\u201d said he wanted \u201cCode for the People\u201d to deliver an inspirational message that everyday people would connect with.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cI\u2019m not a technologist. I\u2019m a storyteller,\u201d Nguyen said. \u201cI didn\u2019t know a lot. And so I was hoping that this film could both be sort of this emotional human story of why we are connected to tech, what are our first curiosities to tech and computers and the internet, and also this bigger philosophy of open source and sort of deconstructing that for a layperson who might not know how much open source surrounds us in everything we do.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tHe added: \u201cA lot of films about tech can be very dystopian, and I wanted to make a film that was more \u2018protopian,\u2019 that gave sort of practical ideas of of how we can move forward and learn from, you know, what values we have as human beings and bring that into how we practice our use of technology.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tNguyen recalled that at one point, he had a cut of \u201cCode for the People\u201d that was around three hours \u2014 \u201cwhich is way too long,\u201d he said. \u201cI think at the end of the day, it was trying to make something that is digestible for people who are having to talk about these really dense matters.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tDuring the Q&A, moderated by Variety<\/em>\u2018s Todd Spangler, Dash said that even people who aren\u2019t immersed in technical details have a grasp of the value of paying for tools that are based on open-source code \u2014 because they are fearful of being locked into a closed software stack.<\/p>\n

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\n\tAccording to Dash, there are users who say, \u201c\u2018I would rather pay you the full price for your open-source product than pay those scumbags who make the commercial product because they\u2019re going to extort me or I feel like I\u2019m trapped by them.\u2019 And so I think that\u2019s part of it\u2026 just shifting the balance of power to the people that they feel that they trust.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tBelcastro spoke about why a for-profit company like Automattic is committed to the open-source model. \u201cYou cannot convince people to use open-source software because it gives them freedom or because it gives them ownership,\u201d he said. \u201cAt the end of the day, people are looking for convenience, people are looking for a great user experience. And so investing in the product is what allows us to provide a better user experience to those users.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cNow, it is true that when we do invest back into the product, we also give to every one of our competitors,\u201d Belcastro continued. \u201cBut the idea of open source is that we all do that\u2026. And we all together rise to give a user experience that is compelling enough that people then end up also benefiting from the freedom and the ownership that we promote.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cCode for the People\u201d touches on the fact that big AI companies like OpenAI operate closed systems even though they\u2019ve built large language models using data scraped from the web. \u201cThe big AI tools do not practice consent about what they do to the web and what they do to creators and what they do to the rest of the world,\u201d said Dash. <\/p>\n

\n\tDash believes open-source AI models will continue to develop and get better \u2014 and provide new alternatives. \u201cThinking about there being one option in a technology category is so broken-brained. It\u2019s like thinking there should be one restaurant, right? Like you shouldn\u2019t have just McDonald\u2019s. There should be lots of little mom-and-pop restaurants and all different kinds of cuisines, right?\u201d he said. \u201cAnd the same is true in technology. \u2026 There should be lots and lots of little AIs for all different topics.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tMeanwhile, Belcastro discussed the idea of being a \u201clandowner\u201d on the internet, noting that even though Automattic provides free resources to let users set up an online presence, users can control their digital destiny independently by owning their own domain name. \u201cAnd so having your own domain, again, is a way to say, \u2018This is my little piece of this internet land. I own it, and nobody can get away from me,’\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\n\tAutomattic\u2019s Binnion told the audience at the \u201cCode for the People\u201d screening, \u201cI would challenge all of you, if you don\u2019t already have a domain, to go buy a domain and start a \u2018link in bio\u2019 [landing page]. You can do it on wordpress.com in probably five minutes. And like that\u2019s now your space on the open web.\u201d<\/p>\n

Read more Union Video Game Workers \u2018Extremely Disappointed\u2019 With Xbox Leadership Following Layoffs (Gaming News Roundup)<\/a><\/p>\n

\nPictured top (l. to r.): Paolo Belcastro, Bao Nguyen, Eric Binnion, Anil Dash<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Variety moderated a conversation in partnership with Automattic Inc. at the New York premiere of ‘Code for the People,’ directed by Bao Nguyen.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":3795,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[22],"tags":[3119,3118,3120],"class_list":["post-3796","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-digital","tag-automattic-inc-screening","tag-automattic","tag-code-for-the-people"],"yoast_head":"\nAutomattic\u2019s \u2018Code for the People\u2019 Documentary Is a Rallying Cry for Users to Fight for the Open Internet - Relocation Observer<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/relocationobserver.com\/?p=3796\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Automattic\u2019s \u2018Code for the People\u2019 Documentary Is a Rallying Cry for Users to Fight for the Open Internet - 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