Digg's online crowd flexes its muscle

DIGG'S ONLINE CROWD FLEXES ITS MUSCLE
[SOURCE: The Christian Science Monitor, AUTHOR: Chris Gaylord]
Earlier this week a torrent of online activity brought the popular news aggregator Digg.com to its knees. Web users flooded the site with posts of a code that could crack the encryption on HD-DVDs, unlocking the high-definition movies to online piracy and potentially exposing Digg to legal troubles. The site's users couldn't be prouder. And, in a way, this is what Digg is designed to do. The website touts itself as a news service without editors -- or, to look at it another way, millions of editors. The community of users compiles articles from across the Internet and votes on which ones deserve prominent placement on the site. However, when Digg's administrators stepped in Tuesday and removed several posts containing that once-secret proprietary code, the community mutinied. The site's founders explained they were responding to cease-and-desist orders on behalf of the trade group that holds the rights to the HD-DVD code. But Digg users countered each takedown by posting the code again and again, multiplying like the heads of a hydra, until articles, pictures, even song lyrics containing the 32-character data key swamped the site.
http://www.csmonitor.com/2007/0504/p03s01-ussc.html

* User revolt at Digg.com shows risks of Web 2.0
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/c/a/2007/05/03/MNG4RPK18...