The latest salvo in the ongoing war of ownership is the now-infamous string of sixteen hexidecimal digits that unlock most HD-DVD titles for copying. These digits are as well-known now as the Lost numbers - and possibly as ubiquitous.
The DMCA has been hard-pressed to keep trying to remove these digits from assorted websites and blogs, including the popular website, Digg (www.digg.com), a news-site on which stories rise to the top based on number of "diggs," (views or votes).
When it found that Digg had dozens of stories posted which included the evil numbers, the DMCA issued a cease and desists notice to Digg. And, at first, Digg complied. Today, however, Kevin Rose posted this blog:
"We’ve always given site moderation (digging/burying) power to the community. Occasionally we step in to remove stories that violate our terms of use (eg. linking to pornography, illegal downloads, racial hate sites, etc.). So today was a difficult day for us. We had to decide whether to remove stories containing a single code based on a cease and desist declaration. 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.
But now, after seeing hundreds of stories and reading thousands of comments, you’ve made it clear. 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 on,
Kevin"
We'll keep watching to see if Digg diggs on.
If you want to learn more about the code, the Digg controversy, or the DMCA's view of various social networking websites' policies, check out www.digg.com.
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