Digital Revolt
Today was an interesting day in the world of Web 2.0. It seems the encryption key for HD-DVDs was discovered, and posted online. The key would allow someone to crack the copy protection on an HD-DVD. A user posted it to Digg, where it garnered more than 15,000 hits. Digg then received a cease and desist notice from the "owners of the intellectual property," as described by Jay Adelson on the Digg blog, so they took down the story and supposedly kicked off the user who posted it. The result: a full-scale online rebellion.Digg users flooded the site with stories and topics either with the code in the title or body, or just abusing Digg for their actions. Earlier, at least the first four pages were completely filled with items about the code. As I was looking at the site myself, I got a notice that Digg was down for a little while, so I only saw the first page, but it was full of topics on the code. It was amazing the ways they worked the code into their topic. Some of my favorites were topics that supposedly offered coupon codes for sites like GoDaddy or that said they got a strange error code on their computer (I bet you can guess what the code in each topic was). There were some that put the code in links in their topic, like to their "MySpace page," or just linked to graphics with the code in it. There was also one with "the truth behind 9/11."
The rebellion apparently has spread to sites like Yahoo! and Wikipedia as well. Wikipedia has locked all the entries on HD-DVD, HD, and other related subjects, and has deleted any reference made to the code or the events of tonight, as well as the code itself when it has appeared in any other entries (for example, there was apparently something about an "HD Mooninite" in the Aqua Teen Hunger Force entry, but it was deleted before I saw it).
Digg's founder, Kevin Rose, posted a statement on Digg's blog later saying that while they took down the posting to keep Digg from getting shut down or service interrupted, it was obvious that Digg's users would rather Digg fight and possibly fail than cower in front of a bigger company. So Digg will no longer delete posts containing or about the code, which makes me wonder what the service interruption is about. The title of his post: 09-f9-11-02-9d-74-e3-5b-d8-41-56-c5-63-56-88-c0 (which is the code, if you don't know). I think I like Kevin.
I feel that this is far from over, but I think Internet users have won a victory tonight, at least in part. And Digg has probably gotten a ton of hits (and as such, advertising dollars) off of this, which means that, at least in the short run, they've won a bit as well.
Ok, Digg is back up after about 20 minutes. The first 5 pages are all about the code, with some stories scattered through the next couple pages too.
The HD-DVD Key as a hexadecimal avatar for one of the users on Digg.
Labels: Current Events, Humor, Technology, Things of Interest
posted by Jeremy @ 1:05 AM
1 Comments:
I watched it happen. It was like nothing I've ever seen.
You should look up some info/try and contact Alex and Kevin if you can. They are both great guys, and they are doing some incredible things with digg.
I disagree majorly with the more vocal part of digg's userbase. They are mostly a big bunch volatile, atheistic, tech-hippies with very ignorant and hypocritical opinions. However, they are also a force to be reckoned with, and I respect them for that. An openly rebellious response like that is something I would expect more out of the likes of the guys at ytmnd or the goons at Something Awful.
It's quite amazing.
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