OJ’s rants What would OJ do?

Digg is Being Used Against Itself

Over the last day or so, stacks of people have been hammering digg as a revolt against their recent actions. For those of you who don't know, HD-DVD encryption was cracked recently and the master key which allows all movies to be ripped has been released across the web. Digg, in their infinite wisdom, decided to kill off the original blog post (and apparently banned one or two users? - unconfirmed), resulting in an avalanche of posts preaching "free speach" and "fuck you Digg". Digg is now being dugg big time, and as a tool it's being used as a weapon against itself.

This is quite an interesting issue. Digg are obviously in a position where they have to remove anything that may be considered an infringment of copyright, otherwise they could be subject to hefty lawsuits which could result in the site being closed (have a read of this for a bit more information), but by the same token it almost goes against their whole business idea - sharing information that people want to have shared in a democratic fashion.

At the end of the day, the encryption key is just a bunch of numbers, and most people have a problem with the idea that a bunch of numbers can be patented/copyrighted. I have to say that I agree with them. A number is a number, it exists in so many forms, and can have so many meanings. Trying to prevent people from posting these numbers is a waste of time. There are some smart people out there using some pretty funny and clever ways to post the number without actually stating that the number is the encryption key - which is perfectly legal.

Regardless of the politics, the cat is out of the bag. And from this point on, the 'Net community will no doubt be pushing to spread this number as far and as wide as possible.

What are your thoughts on this?

Edit: Kaz just sent me this awesome link. I wonder if they'd have the power to rip the shirt off your back?!

Edit 2: So, the masses have been heard! Digg has changed its tune and will no longer be attempting to stop said key being shared. Hats off to them for taking a stance. The thing is, whether they try to stop it or not, the encryption key will not be removed from the web - it's out there, and people won't let it be brushed under the carpet.

Edit 3: Couldn't resist posting this, it's bloody awesome (I'm talking about the pic).