Users turn against Digg: anatomy of a massive online revolt
Brace yourself: there is a revolt underway at Digg. Users are virulently spreading the HD DVD AACS decryption key against Digg’s wishes, with each removed post spawning dozens more in its place. But how did such a loyal userbase as Digg’s so quickly divert its all-consuming energy to defying — even damaging — the company to which it was so loyal?
Well, like so many things DRM-related, it started with a group of hackers at Doom9, who toiled for weeks to discover faults in the DRM systems of HD DVD and Blu-ray. After what’s known as the (universal) processing keys — codes that would allow for the easy decryption of locked-down HD movies on those two formats — were discovered, the Advanced Access Content System Licensing Administrator went on a rampage, attempting to remove the code from any site daring enough to publish it. (The first notable site that I saw discuss the code takedowns was BoingBoing. When ex-EFFer Cory Doctorow says that under legal counsel he was advised to kill the AACS code from the blog of the DRM course he tought at USC, to me that means business.)
Of course the code hit Digg shortly thereafter. And, of course, immediately Digg staff wiped the AACS code from the site. It appeared again, picked up over 15,000 votes (an unprecedented number), and was taken down again. The users and staff went back and forth for hours until the disparate masses formed a cohesive unit, and something never-before-seen on the internet happened: a massive, simultaneous revolt of one of the largest organized groups yet seen on the web, each user as determined as the next to overthrow the will of the very social news service that brought them together.
As if the situation wasn’t already inflamed enough, somewhere during the mix it was discovered that late last year the HD DVD Promotion Group sponsored Digg’s vidcast, DiggNation. The crowd’s reaction to this news was immediately visible on the face of Digg. Literally hundreds thousands of stories began queuing and hitting the front page in rapid fire, most with the AACS code in the body or headline, the rest with headlines like “Digg Revolt 2007″, “Reddit and Slashdot, your alternatives to Digg”, “BREAKING: Digg Founders Accepted Money From HD-DVD Group!”, “Was It Worth It, Digg?”. (Update: an hour after publishing this there were over 6,000 stories in the Digg queue. It then dropped to under 4,000, seemingly after being purged. Can anyone confirm?)
As these stories began to be wiped from the front page, creative new methods to aggregate the AACS code began to crop up, like: “The best mathematical riddle you will see today. Period.” (link), “HD-Binary Code!“, “Australian Registration Plate Designs” (link), “d1af2e56517a7202a1cc087a69c4e296 — md5 of some ‘random hex values’” (link), a full domain, my personal favorite, “The MPAA’s favorite colors! (Don’t forget the C0 at the end!)” (link) as shown right, and so on.
Jay Adelson, CEO of Digg, eventually responded in the (still comment-free) official Digg blog, stating the takedowns on Digg were necessary to “comply with the law”. Whether or not you believe him (for the record, I do, and that’s why I haven’t published that code here or on Engadget; ah, what the hell: 09 f9 11 02 9d 74 e3 5b d8 41 56 c5 63 56 88 c0), the writing’s on the wall: the internet revolution won’t be televised. It will be voted and commented on, scrutinized, questioned, turned on its head, and even turned against its leaders. Wisdom of the crowds, madness of the masses — is there even a difference when social news is transformed into a new kind of unharnessed free-speech battlefield where liability and legality are afterthoughts? When this new kind of news business gives the power to its users, is it really tying its own noose?
Update: Again, not that I think what Digg did was wrong — they were probably heeding the advice of their legal team, and trying not to, you know, get shut down due to a lovely thing we call the DMCA — but Kevin Rose sets the record straight. More power to you, guys.
Of course, we all know the real winner here. No, it’s not Digg’s users and certainly not Digg — it’s HD DVD. Do you know how many units Toshiba is going to sell when stores open tomorrow?
Also, Arrington totally nails it: “Until today, it seems, even Digg didn’t fully understand the power of its community to determine what is ‘news.’ I think the community made their point crystal clear. Vive La Revolution.”
Irony: This post looks to have been buried on Digg just as it was hitting the front page. Ha!
Wow.. Just. Wow.
Comment by Alex Rudloff — Tuesday, May 1, 2007 @ 7:50 pm
[...] I write one post that’s barely critical of Digg community (out of character for me) and the whole site implodes. Ryan has more details on the Digg HD-DVD revolt. [...]
Pingback by RobotSkirts » Blog Archive » I’m what’s wrong with Digg — Tuesday, May 1, 2007 @ 8:13 pm
I use Digg, but i’m actually in favor of the people who are upset over this thing. Engadget may be paranoid about posting this because they would be directly responsible for the content but the whole point of digg is that items are user-submitted and user-promoted. Deleting and BANNING over this is ridiculous.
Comment by Cole — Tuesday, May 1, 2007 @ 8:38 pm
[...] Ryan Block has written what I consider to be the most informative article on the situation this far, which doesn’t surprise me in the least given how great Ryan is on [...]
Pingback by The Digg Code « the j. botter weblog — Tuesday, May 1, 2007 @ 8:45 pm
Thanks for the fascinating article, Ryan. Your post is probably the most informative one I’ve seen on the madness over at Digg thus far. Many kudos.
Comment by J. Botter — Tuesday, May 1, 2007 @ 8:48 pm
“I haven’t published that code here or on Engadget”
It’s pretty clearly visible, several times over, in the screenshot of Digg at the beginning of this same blog entry. Does publishing an image of the text somehow not count, now?
Comment by Curtis — Tuesday, May 1, 2007 @ 8:52 pm
[...] Users Turn Against Digg:Anatomy Of An Online Revolt [...]
Pingback by A Complete Summary Of What's Going On With Digg « CitrusGeek — Tuesday, May 1, 2007 @ 9:14 pm
Digg is user powered site. It’s not very bright idea to piss of very people that are responsible of making the site function.
If Digg would have been smart, they would have waited DCMA notice for EACH “violating” page, put that on “removed” page and let AACS LA do the footwork of handpicking and filing each violating story uniquely. After all, it is not DIGGs job to seach all violating stories. Instead Digg chose to bend for AACS LA and doing THEIR job selecting what to delete.
Comment by n/a — Tuesday, May 1, 2007 @ 9:15 pm
[...] Users turn against Digg: anatomy of a massive online revolt [...]
Pingback by Digg have shot themselves in the foot — Tuesday, May 1, 2007 @ 9:25 pm
[...] page stories are either related to the key-story, or are variants of the original deleted story. Ryan Block of Engadget is not alone in wondering, “How did such a loyal userbase as Digg’s so quickly divert its [...]
Pingback by GigaOM » A Very Angry Digg Nation — Tuesday, May 1, 2007 @ 9:31 pm
Kevin wrote in the digg blog that they are stopping censoring…Here’s the link : http://blog.digg.com/?p=74
Comment by Kyle — Tuesday, May 1, 2007 @ 9:33 pm
Dude,
Digg is down, as of 12:13 mtn time.
Comment by Randall — Tuesday, May 1, 2007 @ 10:00 pm
[...] Ryan Block [...]
Pingback by Laughing Squid » Massive Digg Rebellion Underway — Tuesday, May 1, 2007 @ 10:08 pm
[...] orchestrated by the community: all the stories are actually one single story. Ryan Block summarized the action of the masses in the last few hours on the [...]
Pingback by Digg is having a bad day « Robitaille’s Blog — Tuesday, May 1, 2007 @ 10:14 pm
[...] multe la ryan Etichete: digg, socializare [...]
Pingback by revoltă pe digg » zoso’s blog — Tuesday, May 1, 2007 @ 10:28 pm
[...] 1, Source 2, Source [...]
Pingback by Gadget, shop online » Digg is down, Digg is in trouble and messed up! Diggers are simply too angry! , Blog Archive by TechChee.com — Tuesday, May 1, 2007 @ 10:55 pm
[...] act raises many many interesting questions, but the simplest one is: Why couldn’t Digg turn on a “Moderation” [...]
Pingback by The true of power of consumers — live in action : Green & White — Tuesday, May 1, 2007 @ 11:00 pm
Curtis, good point. :) I updated the post, what the hell.
Comment by Ryan Block — Tuesday, May 1, 2007 @ 11:04 pm
[...] Ryan Block of Engadget is not alone in wondering, “How did such a loyal userbase as Digg’s so quickly divert its all-consuming energy to defying — even damaging — the company to which it was so loyal?” [...]
Pingback by SolSie.com / The Lighter Side of Mobile Technology » Blog Archive » Digg Users Get Angry: 09 F9 11 ….. — Wednesday, May 2, 2007 @ 4:55 am
[...] Check this out. I first spotted this here: here and here (although for some reason those posts don’t show up [...]
Pingback by Sample the Web — 09 f9 11 02 9d 74 e3 5b d8 41 56 c5 63 56 88 c0 — Wednesday, May 2, 2007 @ 6:11 am
Great insight into the whole HD-DVD key thing. I have referenced your post in my blog at http://developershelf.blogspot.com/2007/05/digg-and-hd-dvd-key-community-power.html
Comment by Rupak Ganguly — Wednesday, May 2, 2007 @ 8:10 am
[...] case you hadn’t heard, last night Digg users had themselves a good old-fashioned [...]
Pingback by Digg Mania 2007: Diggers gone wild! --Stewtopia — Wednesday, May 2, 2007 @ 8:19 am
I was fascinated watching the response last night… until I got goastse’ed off a link on the front page. *sigh*
Has a critical mass of users ever done such a good job (legally, no DDOS here) taking over a massively popular website before? It was very impressive.
Comment by Michael Ducker — Wednesday, May 2, 2007 @ 9:14 am
By far the best write up I have seen on the net about last night. I watched it happen and it was amazing. Literally at a few times Digg itself was Dugg to the point of being VERY slow.
While it was childish, it was impressive to watch. Great write up, thanks. :)
Oh, and 09 f9 11 02 9d 74 e3 5b d8 41 56 c5 63 56 88 c0
Comment by xxdesmus — Wednesday, May 2, 2007 @ 9:52 am
[...] of where the majority of opponents to DRM are coming from, a boatload of digg’s users revolted against the service last night and this morning for removing posts that contained a 16-digit code that helps to crack [...]
Pingback by Put your ideas where your rebellion is at 1FPS | David Chartier — Wednesday, May 2, 2007 @ 10:15 am
[...] Ryan Block “Of course, we all know the real winner here. No, its not Digg or its users — its HD [...]
Pingback by internet. Digg - pestaola.gr — Wednesday, May 2, 2007 @ 11:21 am
The Number of Rebellion
09 f9 11 02 9d 74 e3 5b d8 41 56 c5 63 56 88 c0. When the era of self-publishing took flight in the early 2000s with the advent of blogging tools that made it relatively easy for anyone…
Trackback by WebSG — Wednesday, May 2, 2007 @ 12:13 pm
[...] Support Digg during the Revolution. [...]
Pingback by Unquiet Desperation » Blog Archive » 09 f9 11 02 9d 74 e3 5b d8 41 56 c5 63 56 88 c0 — Wednesday, May 2, 2007 @ 2:17 pm
[...] Users turn against Digg: anatomy of a massive online revolt » Ryan Block Brace yourself: there is a revolt underway at Digg. Users are virulently spreading the HD DVD AACS decryption key against Digg’s wishes, with each removed post spawning dozens more in its place. (tags: digg dmcs cj.millisock hd.dvd aacs history blogging history.blogging history.social.media history.media) [...]
Pingback by Nomadishere : Seeker of Truth » Blog Archive » links for 2007-05-06 — Sunday, May 6, 2007 @ 3:10 pm