"...at least we died trying" -- Digg.com

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"...at least we died trying" -- Digg.com

Leslie D' Monte / Mumbai May 2, 2007

Bowing to the wrath of its own million-odd online community while simultaneously forced to take on the multi-billion dollar music industry, Digg.com -- a user-generated Web 2.0 website, today reversed its ban and allowed users access to articles containing an encryption key that could possibly be used to crack the digital rights management (DRM) on HD DVDs (digital video discs).

Digg is a user-driven social content website. Everything on Digg is submitted by members all over the world including India. Other people read the submission and Digg (choose) what they like best. If the story receives enough Diggs, it is promoted to the front page for the millions of visitors to see. According to comScore Media Metrix’ traffic estimates, Digg has around 1.35 million monthly visitors. Digg reportedly pegs its users as 20 million a month.

It all started when a story link claiming that a secret HD-DVD encryption code had been cracked was posted on Digg.com. The post included the key code in the title which many users treated like some magic number, which could be typed into their HD-DVD player or PC and make a copy of the disc. This apparently angered the Motion Picture Association of America – a proponent of DRM and anti-piracy measures.

Skeptics, though, say the hullaballoo was unnecessary since the processing key is a small part of the equation.

Nevertheless, when the link was pulled off “in order to respect these (intellectual property) rights and to comply with the law”, the move triggered a backlash amongst its users who felt the site was backtracking on its democratic news selection principle and resubmitted the stories -- as well as messages deriding the Motion Picture Association of America, a proponent of DRM and anti-piracy measures -- in thousands (a few blogs even put the figure at 50,000 diggs but the figure remains speculation), causing the site to shut down for a time.

Later, a message headlined with the code and credited to Digg co-founder Kevin Rose stated: "Today (May 1) was an insane day. ...We had to decide whether to remove stories containing a single code based on a cease-and-desist declaration. We had to make a call, and in our desire to avoid a scenario where Digg would be interrupted or shut down, we decided to comply and remove the stories with the code...

"But now, after seeing hundreds of stories and reading thousands of comments, you’ve made it clear. You’d rather see Digg go down fighting than bow down to a bigger company. We hear you, and effective immediately we won’t delete stories or comments containing the code and will deal with whatever the consequences might be. If we lose, then what the hell, at least we died trying. Digg on, Kevin," the message reads.

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		Discussion Board / User Comments

May 02 , 2007 ,21:28 IST

DVD does NOT stand for 'Digital Video Disc' it stands for 'Digital Versatile Disc'.

Reply

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