Digg The Power Of The People

Filed in archive Community , Companies , Consumer Rights on May 3, 2007

Web 2.0 site Digg has bowed to its customers in a case reminiscent of the P2P and digital music consumer rebellion.

The story revolves around a DVD cryptography key that allows DVDs to be copied. The Advanced Access Content System License Administrator (AACS LA) is the organization formed by entertainment industry and consumer electronics makers to license and protect the key, which is intellectual property under the DMCA. On the other side are consumer activists who advocate the right to use the key for backups or to play it on Linux systems. In the middle is Digg, a web site where members post and rate Internet news and articles. The most popular listings get the most prominent display.

The DVD key was cracked, or reverse engineered, and promoted on Digg. AACS LA complained and the listing was removed. Only the Digg community launched a furious storm to keep posting and voting for the key. And so a furious cycle started with postings and takedowns. Digg was the losing the battle and finally gave in to its community, Lawsuits are expected soon.

Digg founder Kevin Rose wrote:

We've always given site moderation (digging/burying) power to the community. Occasionally we step in to remove stories that violate our terms of use (eg. linking to pornography, illegal downloads, racial hate sites, etc.). So today was a difficult day for us. 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.