Digg has sparked a fierce rebellion in the world of citizen journalism by trying to stop the spread of software code for hacking high-definition movie discs.
SAN FRANCISCO: Popular news-ranking website Digg has sparked a fierce rebellion in the world of citizen journalism by trying to stop the spread of software code for hacking high-definition movie discs.
An insurrection by Digg users took place last week when website operators removed postings of an HD-DVD encryption code key and closed the accounts of posters to appease the Advanced Access Content System (AACS).
The AACS created the encryption and licenses software to prevent Blu-Ray format and HD-DVD movies from being illegally copied. Digg is a website where links to online news stories and blogs are indexed based on feedback from users.
AACS sent Digg, Google and other websites "cease and desist" letters demanding removal of postings exposing the encryption code key on the grounds US law bans trafficking in "circumvention devices" for digital movie piracy.
"We had to decide whether to remove stories containing a single code based on a cease-and-desist declaration," Digg founder Kevin Rose wrote in his blog.
"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."
The campaign to delete the information caused an overwhelming counterattack by website users who relentlessly barraged Digg with new postings of the banned software code.
Digg surrendered in the face of the overwhelming odds and let its users have their way.
"After seeing hundreds of stories and reading thousands of comments, you've made it clear," Rose told Digg devotees in his blog. "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 has little reason to worry at the moment because the AACS legal grounds to sue for distribution of piracy circumvention technology are weak, according to Electronic Frontier Foundation senior attorney Fred von Lohmann.
"The AACS Licensing Administrator has set its lawyers on the futile mission of trying to get every instance of at least one key (hint: it begins with 09 f9) removed from the Internet," von Lohmann said in a statement published on the EFF website. "Predictably, this legal effort has backfired, resulting in eternal Internet fame for the key in question."
Aside from being replicated countless times on websites, the encryption key code is printed on T-shirts sold on the Internet.
Musical renditions of the code available in online videos include a man singing it in a guitar ballad titled "Oh Nine, Eff Nine" on Google-owned YouTube.
The encryption key has also been used as an Internet domain name and as the basis for an online quiz, according to von Lohmann.
Digg members whose accounts were revoked because of encryption key postings are demanding to be re-admitted to the website. The AACS software for preventing copying of high-definition DVDs in rival Blu-Ray and HD-DVD formats was created by a consortium of technology and entertainment industry firms including Disney, INTEL, Microsoft, Warner Brothers, IBM, Toshiba, Sony, and Matsushita (Panasonic).
The encryption key was figured out last year by a self-proclaimed hacker and spread quickly on the Internet. AACS has since strengthened the encryption, but the key remains able to "crack" the anti-copying protection on HD-DVDs released before the fix.
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
)
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
)
)
)
)
)
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}