Digg, the social networking news site, found itself in a bunch of trouble last tuesday as it was served a cease and desist letter over a news story posted containing the software encryption key for the HD-DVD format. Digg initially pulled the story because of the cease and desist letter, however the users of digg revolted posting stories of how Digg removed the story and posting thousands of comments calling it unnecessary censorship. Because of the user revolt, Kevin Rose, Digg’s Founder, re-posted the story as well as posted the following in his blog:
“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.”
I think the fact that the Digg community made a voice loud enough to influence the sites owner is cool, but also shows the power behind user-based communities like Digg. They could face legal troubles, but I think Digg is in the clear.
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