Digg insanityBrace 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?)

AACS colorsAs 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!