Thispost on the Digg Blog pretty much sums up the situation with the censorship and this post by Kevin reflects Digg’s new and revised position on the issue. And the whole mess can be seen on Digg.
Personally I think they all sort of over reacted. Digg was totally justified, I think, in deleting posts with the code and stuff in it. Just covering their own ass… To me it’s the legal equivalent of posting a serial code for a program. Except here it’s for every HD-DVD rather than just one software product. The creative posts were great, and a lot of the images made me laugh. But A) don’t expect Digg to let the code be displayed outwright on the homepage (though it is and now they have) and B) don’t get mad at Digg for depriving you of your first amendment right. Whether or not they’re legally alright, I don’t know but the point is was to avoid a legal confrontation.
Anyways, here’s what I would’ve done: Digg is a news site, so just post the news. Something like: HD-DVD encryption cracked! That way everyone who cares will know and can look further. (Also: if this stuff didn’t happen, no one most people wouldn’t really know or care about it; which is a bit ironic.) And then circulate the code, instructions, etc. as a little package through torrents or private sites. Or as clever puzzles or semi-blatant messages. Or just wait for it to show up on The Broken or something!
That brings up another interesting point: what the hell do you do with the code? I’ve been seeing a whole lot of the code but barely any links to directions and stuff. I think within a few days we’re going to have a LOT of people who have no idea what to do with this random number. The code can be spread to every single preson in the world but no one will be able to use it if you control the spread of the instructions. And what would really make me laugh would be if this whole thing was some viral prank. Maybe I should release the hex-code to crack Blu-Ray disks? ( A0 P0 R0 I0 L0 )
Comments
This place isn't ALL about me — just mostly.
Swift
4 years, 9 months ago
Good point. Digg need not risk their neck by succumbing to irate users. This is, infact, only a small thing. Digg is used to spread so much other useful, legal information, and there are plenty of ways of spreading illegal stuff over the net still. When was the net not censored, anyway?
Put it this way: don’t expect somebody else to pick up the tab for your illegal activities - no matter how commonplace they are. Even if everybody is doing it, somebody’s gonna raise hell. Nomatter how unfair it is, if its jeopardizing, jeopardize yourself, nobody else.
If Digg goes down with it’s new decision, it will be a fallen hero, unable to do any more of the work which made it so adored in the first place.
There is no such thing as a free net. Freedom is a thing of the past.
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