Digg is perhaps the most prominent “social news” site, where stories reach the front page based on their popularity. It’s supposed to be a democratic system, but democracies are dependent on the masses to keep them functioning properly. And when the masses are angry, they protest:
The power of Web 2.0 is in full effect over at Digg, where users are revolting over Digg’s decision to pull a story (that netted over 15,000 diggs) and reportedly boot a user for posting the HD-DVD AACS Processing Key number, which would allow someone to crack the copy protection on an HD-DVD. The front page (along with two and three) of Digg consists entirely of stories flaunting the number or criticizing Digg for its actions.
I’ve been following this to some extent, and it’s really quite remarkable – Every story description includes the HD-DVD AACS key, usually incorporated in a very creative way. (The screencaps at Gizmodo are worth a thousand words.) Unfortunately, it’s also made Digg more-or-less worthless as a resource for finding interesting news stories. Sites that rely heavily on user-contributed information have really revolutionized the way the Web is used, but as we see here, it’s a double-edged sword.
UPDATE: Founder Kevin Rose posts his thoughts (along with the AACS key).
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