Night of the Furies

Last night, Digg.com saw what can best be described as an online riot.

Context: a few months ago, the encryption code for HD-DVDs was cracked, allowing anyone with the code to make copies of HD-DVD content. The company behind HD-DVD technology used the DMCA to try to stifle the dissemination of the code. Interestingly, though, in the DMCA takedown notices, the code itself was mentioned, and since DMCA takedown notices are accessible to the public, the company, AACS, was inadvertently violating their own takedown notice--they needed to take down their own takedown notices.

If there's one thing the internet loves, it's irony, so this story--and the code that the AACS was trying to suppress--received even more attention. In the last few days, the AACS has begun issuing takedown notices to dozens of websites and blogs in a truly futile attempt to put the genie back in the bottle.

Digg was one of these sites. At least one story had been posted that mentioned revealed the code. But Digg didn't just delete the post, they also banned the person who had posted the story--and then when other Diggers started to object, Digg banned them as well.

Very quickly, the outrage among Digg users snowballed until finally, last night, virtually every story and every post made to Digg had to do with this controversy. Thousands of protest posts were submitted that contained the code, and Diggers demanded that Kevin Rose and the Digg staff either stand up for free speech or the riot would effectively shut the website down.

The mayhem even started spreading to other sites, most notably Wikipedia. Any Wikipedia article that was even remotely connected to DVDs, Kevin Rose, or Digg was vandalized with the encryption code. Wikipedia administrators had to lock down dozens of pages in order to prevent the vandalism from spreading.

I was online last night and witnessed the whole thing. It was amazing to watch. I have never seen anything quite like it in the decade or so that I have spent on the world wide web. Like I say, it is best described as a riot. If Digg had been a physical structure, it would certainly have been looted and burned. Since the riot was online, no one got hurt, and Digg is still up today.

At last, late last night, Kevin Rose gave in to the rioters' demands and will no longer attempt to censor the encryption code or stories about it. This, of course, leaves them vulnerable to a lawsuit by the AACS, but it's hard to believe that the AACS is going to be able to go after anybody. At this point, there is no way to stop the code--millions of people have already seen it. And besides, AACS shares a large part of the responsibility for making the code public in the first place.