FreeCulture.org is a diverse, non-partisan group of students and young people who are working to get their peers involved in the free culture movement. Launched in April 2004 at Swarthmore College, FreeCulture.org has helped establish student groups at colleges and universities across the United States. Today, FreeCulture.org chapters exist at over 30 colleges, from Maine to California, with many more getting started around the world.

FreeCulture.org was founded by two Swarthmore students after they sued voting-machine manufacturer Diebold for abusing copyright law in 2003. Named after the book Free Culture by Stanford University law professor Lawrence Lessig, FreeCulture.org is part of a growing movement, with roots in the free software / open source community, media activists, creative artists and writers, and civil libertarians. Groups with which FreeCulture.org has collaborated include Creative Commons, the Electronic Frontier Foundation, Public Knowledge, and Downhill Battle.

FreeCulture.org has four major functions:

• Creating and providing resources for our chapters and for the general public
• Outreach to youth and students
• Networking with other people, companies and organizations in the free culture movement
• Issue advocacy on behalf of our members

FreeCulture.org incorporated in May 2005 and is currently building by-laws and a corporate structure.

To contact us, e-mail us at freedom@freeculture.org, or visit the Contact page.

Board of Directors

• Fred Benenson (New York University alumnus) Email

  Fred Benenson co-founded Free Culture @ NYU during his senior year at while he was studying philosophy and computer science. After graduating in May of 2005, he worked as the Free Culture intern at Creative Commons where he created the current FreeCulture.org t-shirt, spoke at Defcon 13 with Elizabeth Stark, helped develop a media kit to promote Creative Commons in the real world, and brewed open-source beer. After moving back to New York City at the end of 2005, Fred successfully organized two anti-DRM protests (which received national media attention) as well as the NYC Free Culture regional summit. He is currently living in SoHo and spending his time as a freelance web developer and consultant, free culture activist, and photographer.

• Nelson Pavlosky (George Mason University School of Law) Email

  Nelson Pavlosky is a rising first-year law student at George Mason University School of Law. He received a B.A. in philosophy from Swarthmore College in 2007. As a founder of both FreeCulture.org and its first campus chapter, Free Culture Swarthmore, Nelson has been a driving force behind the organization since its inception. He made international headlines in 2003 as a plaintiff in OPG v. Diebold, a case which set an important precedent protecting freedom of speech from abuse of copyright law. In his spare time, Nelson sings and plays his guitar, Kermit, and eats a great deal of fruit.

• Karen Rustad (Scripps College) Email

  Karen Rustad is a senior at Scripps College in Claremont, Calif., where she is majoring in media studies with a minor in politics. In the fall of 2005, Karen founded Free Culture 5C, FreeCulture.org’s chapter at the Claremont Colleges. Besides freeing culture, Karen enjoys chocolate chip cookies, pretty things, and webcomics.

• Elizabeth Stark (Harvard Law School) Email

  Elizabeth Stark is the founder of the Harvard University chapter of FreeCulture.org. She went to Brown University and is currently a student at Harvard Law School. At Harvard, she conducts research for the Berkman Center for Internet and Society, is an Editor of the Harvard Journal of Law Technology, and has worked as Teaching Fellow for courses in Cyberlaw, Electronic Music, and Internet and Society. She has collaborated with organizations such as the EFF, Creative Commons, and iCommons. Elizabeth speaks French, German, and Portuguese and has lived and worked in places such as Berlin, Rio de Janeiro, Paris, and Singapore. She is highly interested in the impact of technology on digital culture, and is (semi-)obsessed with electronic music.

• Open Access director: Gavin Baker (University of Florida alumnus) Email

  Gavin Baker received a B.A. in political science from the University of Florida in 2007. He co-founded Florida Free Culture, the FreeCulture.org chapter at UF, in 2005. At UF, Gavin was also a member of GatorLUG, as well as UF’s chapter Universities Allied for Essential Medicines, and AlaCloud.net. He served a term in the Student Senate, having been elected on a free culture platform, and was named one of the “Hardest Working Men in Student Government” by the student newspaper. Before joining Free Culture, Gavin was a reporter and opinion columnist for The Independent Florida Alligator.

• Web Team leader: Asheesh Laroia (Johns Hopkins University alumnus) Email

  Asheesh Laroia received a M.S. in computer science at the Johns Hopkins University in 2007. He received his B.A. in cognitive science from JHU. In 2004, he filed a deposition in the Diebold lawsuit that first earned the student free culture movement coverage in the national media. A long-time participant in free software and free culture, he interned at Creative Commons in 2006. (This photo of him in front of shoes is courtesy of Creative Commons.)