“Code for the People” Documentary Promotes Open-Source Internet

Automattic, the company behind WordPress.com, Tumblr, and WooCommerce, funded a 20-minute short film titled “Code for the People: The Human Story of the Open Web.” The New York premiere took place on July 1 at the Crosby Street Hotel, followed by a Variety-moderated Q&A. The film will be released for free streaming on July 9 at codeforthepeople.com.

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Director Bao Nguyen described the film as an effort to make dense technical concepts “digestible for people who are having to talk about these really dense matters.” He emphasized a “protopian” tone, contrasting the documentary with dystopian tech narratives. Panelists Anil Dash, Paolo Belcastro, and Eric Binnion expanded on why open-source matters to everyday users. Dash argued that many users would rather pay full price for an open-source product than feel “trapped” by closed, commercial alternatives. Belcastro linked open-source to convenience and user experience, noting that Automattic’s investments improve products while also benefiting competitors. Binnion urged attendees to claim their own domain names as a simple step toward digital independence.

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Automattic positions itself as a for-profit entity that contributes back to the open-source ecosystem. According to Belcastro, the company’s goal is to deliver a compelling user experience that encourages adoption, even though the same improvements become available to rivals. This approach, he said, “allows us to provide a better user experience to those users” while “giving to every one of our competitors.”

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During the discussion, Dash highlighted that major AI firms such as OpenAI operate closed systems despite training on publicly scraped data, stating the tools “do not practice consent.” He advocated for a diverse landscape of open-source AI models, likening the need for multiple options to having many “mom-and-pop restaurants” rather than a single chain. Belcastro framed domain ownership as “your little piece of this internet land,” reinforcing the documentary’s message that individuals can control their digital presence.

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• “I’m not a technologist. I’m a storyteller,” — Bao Nguyen, Director

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• “A lot of films about tech can be very dystopian, and I wanted to make a film that was more ‘protopian,’ 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.” — Bao Nguyen, Director

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• “‘I would rather pay you the full price for your open-source product than pay those scumbags who make the commercial product because they’re going to extort me or I feel like I’m trapped by them.’ And so I think that’s part of it… just shifting the balance of power to the people that they feel that they trust.” — Anil Dash, Technologist & EFF Board Member

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• “You cannot convince people to use open-source software because it gives them freedom or because it gives them ownership,” — Paolo Belcastro, Artistic Director, Domains Maisons, Automattic

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• “Automattic’s Binnion told the audience at the “Code for the People” screening, “I would challenge all of you, if you don’t already have a domain, to go buy a domain and start a ‘link in bio’ [landing page].” — Eric Binnion, Payments Engineering Lead, Automattic

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