Diggers don't dig Digg DRM deletion

 

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Posted on 2 May 2007 at 13:41

Digg.com was repeatedly brought to its knees yesterday as users reacted angrily to news that the site had bowed to pressure from a DRM licensing group.

The website was one of several that received 'cease and desist' letters from Athe ACS Licensing Authority, which administers the DRM used on Blu-ray and HD DVD discs. At the letter's urging, Digg removed a link to a Web page that revealed the encryption key that could enable content on HD DVD discs to be copied, circumventing the DRM.

While Digg's actions were in line with US law, which prohibits the dissemination of anti-DRM techniques, the site's users were unimpressed. They posted links to a multitude of sources of the encryption key, voted them back on the site's homepage and even simply posted the key itself until Digg's servers could no longer cope.

Originally Digg explained on its blog that 'to comply with the law, we have removed postings of the key that have been brought to our attention'.

'Whether you agree or disagree with the policies of the intellectual property holders and consortiums, in order for Digg to survive, it must abide by the law,' wrote CEO Jay Adelson.

However such was the ferocity of the response that founder Kevin Rose soon signalled a complete volte-face.

'But now, after seeing hundreds of stories and reading thousands of comments, you've made it clear,' he wrote just hours later. '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.'

Author: Simon Aughton