Full Coverage of the Digg HD DVD Event

There is a set of numbers that finally let me truly witness the power of Web 2.0 and the power of users or netizens.

Today, something significant happened on Digg, a representative website of Web 2.0. The management of Digg finally succumbed to the power of its users. This can absolutely be regarded as a symbolic historical event of the Web 2.0 era.

What is Web 2.0?

Simply put, Web 2.0 is a network made up of data generated by users, which are the netizens. A representative application of this concept is the blog. Everything about blogs is self-generated by the netizens themselves. Web 2.0 is a network controlled by us as users.

From last year until now, Web 2.0 websites have been popping up continuously. TIME Magazine even selected all the netizens around the world as the Person of the Year for 2006. We know that the era of Web 2.0 has arrived.

Digg, a representative of Web 2.0

Digg is a representative website of Web 2.0. All information on Digg is submitted by users and then voted on by all Digg users to decide what information appears on the homepage.

For example, if I find a piece of news and want to recommend it to the world, I submit the URL of the news to Digg. If Digg members like it, they will vote for the URL I submitted. When the number of votes reaches a certain amount, the URL I submitted, i.e., the news, will be ranked on the homepage. Then millions of netizens from all over the world can share this news with me. This is Web 2.0.

The big event that occurred on the Digg site was triggered by a set of numbers. What are these numbers?

Around February 2007, hacker amezami announced on the famous video technology forum Doom9 that he had successfully cracked the encryption technology of the next-generation DVD formats Blu-ray and HD DVD. The encryption technology of Blu-ray and HD DVD is an important measure used by movie companies to combat piracy. These global enterprises pinned their hopes on these encryption technologies, hoping to save the world's film and television industry with them.

The key to cracking the encryption technology is a set of numbers: 09 F9... This set of numbers is like a password. Using this password, you can easily decrypt Blu-ray and HD DVD, more directly speaking, we can easily produce pirated copies.

So, what does 09 F9... have to do with Web 2.0 and Digg?

Digg and 09 F9...

On the afternoon of May 2, 2007, in Malaysia and China time, a certain Digg member submitted the news about the above-mentioned DVD crack to Digg. Within a short period, this news received a very high number of votes and automatically ranked on the Digg homepage.

This is when the major event began. Due to sponsors or advertisers, the Digg management deleted the news about the DVD being cracked, citing violation of regulations. They also published a blog post explaining their actions, titled "What’s Happening with HD-DVD Stories?"

After discovering the management's censorship behavior, Digg users were extremely angry, believing that it hindered freedom of speech and violated the user-centered principle of Web 2.0. As a result, everyone became inflamed, initiating protests. Some Digg users called for everyone to vote, pushing all news related to HD DVD to the homepage, filling the Digg homepage completely with the set of numbers 09 F9...

Digg was completely overrun

At this point, the entire incident reached its boiling point and climax. In an extremely short time, the power of the users was fully displayed on the Digg homepage.

This is a screenshot (screenshot) I saved in real-time at that moment. You can see from the image that every submission on the Digg homepage at that time was related to the set of numbers 09 F9..., and each submission had an unusually high number of votes. At that moment, I excitedly witnessed the power of Web 2.0 users firsthand.

Digg users continued their protest without pause. After the event started, relevant submissions kept appearing, and the Digg homepage kept updating. Every update was about 09 F9..., without interruption. At this point, I described it with this sentence: "Digg has been completely overrun by users."

The Digg management bows down

After a series of intense protests and a not-so-long period of time, the Digg management finally conceded. They listened to the users' wishes and ceased any actions that would harm the users' interests. They again published a blog post to express their stance, titled "Digg This: 09-f9…".

In the article, Digg founder Kevin Rose said, "We heard your voices. After seeing hundreds of articles and thousands of comments, we clearly understood your intentions. You prefer to see Digg stand up against large corporations. We heard you. From this moment forward, we will no longer delete any submissions or comments related to this set of numbers. We will face all possible consequences."

Ultimately, Digg bowed down. In the end of the article, founder Kevin Rose said, "If we lose, then what the hell, at least we died trying."

In the Web 2.0 era, users are the network

I am extremely fortunate because I witnessed the power of users, the fight for their own freedom of speech, the victory of users, and the era of Web 2.0. Web 2.0 is the network of users, our internet. We, the netizens, are the core of the internet.

Finally, I am honored to document this highly meaningful symbolic event, allowing us to witness this new era of Web 2.0 together. Look, right now, I am using the power of users.