Social Media Power Brings Down Digg

The founders of Digg.com – which has been rocked by an unprecedented user revolt over the release of an HD-DVD decryption code – accepted sponsorship from the organization behind HD-DVD last year.

Episodes of the DiggNation video show were sponsored by the HD DVD Promotion Group. DiggNation is produced by Revision3, a company run by Digg founders, Jay Adelson and Kevin Rose. Rose is also a co-host of the DiggNation show. The image below shows the HD DVD logo displayed at the beginning of one such episode.

During the past 24 hours, Digg administrators have apparently deleted dozens of stories which included references to the HD DVD decryption code. These included one story which appeared poised to become the most popular ever seen on Digg, with almost 16000 votes within 20 hours. Administrators have also apparently begun deleting stories criticizing their actions, and also banned numerous members – according to angry statements posted by Digg users on the site and elsewhere.
diggnation sponsored by hd dvd.jpg32 Dangerous Hex Digits

The 32 digit hexadecimal code can be used to make copies of HD DVD movies by using software such as BackupHDDVD. A number of websites and individuals have reported that they have been sent legal notices ordering them to remove the code from their servers. These notices have come from US lawyers representing the Advanced Access Content System Licensing Administrator LLC (AACS LA). Digg itself has not yet issued any statement on the case or its legal situation (but see update 2 below).

Digg, one of the world’s fastest growing social networking sites, recently celebrated its one millionth user account – although the number of active contributors is believed to be considerably smaller than this figure.

All Digg content is submitted by users, who then vote for the stories they like. The company has made much of the community-administered aspect of the site. However, some users are now complaining that the recent events cast doubt on this.

Digg co-founder Jay Adelson has now made a comment regarding Digg’s position on the HD DVD code, at the official Digg blog.

Originally posted on Tuesday, May 1st, 2007
Social Media, Tagging, Technology.