May Day – The Beginning of The New dot Com Era…or Bubble?

May 1st - This was the day that many spoke with one voice, with multiple diggs and by a sequence of numbers.

Is it irony that 09 F9 11 starts with the same numbers that also changed the way the world looks at their security, of course I'm talking about the 9/11 attacks. Since then the world as a whole has changed, but that's another issue altogether.

It's more than just a Key

The main revolt started when digg users found that, even though the site has solely user generated content, there was some form of editing going on. It started going downhill when the first link about the "key" got 15000+ diggs and was removed, it was then resubmitted only to be removed again and the user banned. That's when everybody went nuts!

From then on literally hundreds of stories got submitted with the key in it, linking to various blogs and other sites. Thousands of comments were posted saying that they oppose digg censoring the stories and comments. I guess that's what user generated content meant anyway. Of the hundreds of submissions there is no exact knowledge of how many were done by over zealous 14 year olds who probably had no idea how to use the key anyway.

But that's not the main reason why they did it, age has nothing to do with it. It was the simple fact that someone's voice was being silenced and this time instead of rallies and demonstrations in streets people got clicking in hordes, submitting and commenting on what they felt was, and IS, their God given right - Freedom!

Implications

Now there is a very huge chance that digg might actually get sued for this and like Kevin said, "If we lose, then what the hell, at least we died trying." Here it will have to be seen if the community will come to stand behind Kevin, a person they admire for starting a site that they vehemently love, and has become a sort of leader for them.

I do not know the full implications of the DMCA, only a lawyer can understand all that legal jargon anyway, but if it is so severe that a sequence of numbers can be constituted as illegal to know then let me tell you the law pretty much sucks.

Where Does the Internet go from here?

People are still web surfing, blogging, digg is still functioning and people are still registering splogs and MFA sites to make a quick buck. Yep, it's just another day on the net. It was the same even when the "revolt" was taking place on digg, it's the same now and it will be the same tomorrow.

The lawsuit might come, or not. Digg might get shutdown, or not. But the Internet has definitely changed, their is now a slight breeze in the direction of the latch to loosen laws - laws that the average netizen might never get affected by but will still influence their life nonetheless.

Ever wonder why DVD's have regions? That's how Hollywood controls price fixing on their DVD's to maximize their profits, and the whole world has to accept it. It's a good thing for non-region specific players {which don't work all the time}.

So the internet will move along at the pace it presently is but with a slight difference which is awareness. People have now become more aware of laws that don't make sense, that are solely made due to the fact that there are big corporations which provide deep political funding.

The sad fact is that if I make a video here in Europe and upload it to YouTube and somebody in the U.S thinks I violated the DMCA, which doesn't exist here, my video gets taken down. Is that fair?

Related posts:

1. A much needed feature in digg – Blocking Sites
2. Digg Unveils New Features – Kevin’s Blog Post Explains with Video
3. Got a Startup?
4. PlugIM.com – User Driven Internet Marketing
5. Digg Top Users – Gone Too Soon