Digg Users vs. Digg Owners?

Well, this has to be one of the stranger stories in the tech world… and one I am sure you will be hearing a LOT about. First of all, let me say that the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) is BAD legislation right up front. However, for the moment, it is the law of the land! What does this have to do with Digg, the social networking news site? Well, it seems that a Digg poster posted a story that included the code key that unlocks the new HD-DVD Hi-Def movie DRM (Digital Rights Management.) Publishing this key is a violation of the DMCA. Digg management made the decision to remove the post, and the poster’s account. And, it was on!

It seems that the users of Digg (pretty much en masse) claim that Kevin Rose and company should have left the post up, after all, they reasoned, “Isn’t post popularity the only thing that is supposed to elevate a posting on Digg?” And, the post with the code was up to over 15,000 Diggs! So, they said, “Leave it alone!” Never mind that according to the DMCA Digg could have been held accountable for the post (that THEY didn’t even know about until after the fact, I mentioned it was a bad law, didn’t I?) But, at the moment it IS the law. They acted in their own best interest to legally protect themselves, I am sure at the advice of their lawyers. But the Digg community is unrelenting! They are trashing Digg, Kevin, and the other Digg management for their actions. Come on, guys! Lighten up! There is no conspiracy theory to be propagated here… Digg is a company… they are protecting themselves from the Feds. Were they “in the pocket of the HD-DVD people” because they sponsored some Diggnation episodes? No. They were just covering their collective posteriors!