Some Kind of Asshole Fish

The War Drums Sound?

I can only imagine how incredible intimidating it is when you are provided with a "Cease and Desist" order from a larger company and its legal minions. Yet after a huge community outcry, Digg have drawn a line and chosen to stand with its community.

For those unaware of the history behind this fork in the road, Digg had previously been removing material which could potentially leave it breach of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act. For instance, Diggs could be removed if they linked to such things as instructional material on how to circumvent DRM technology. But from now on, they will allow Diggs such as these to remain.

Now coming into legal conflict with large companies is not something to be taken lightly. Famous stouts relating to indirect participation in copyright breach have historically proved damaging for the defendants. For example the Napster vs RIAA battle of 2001 left Napster all but a name after it's core business process was shut-down.

With that in mind, I'm not quite sure if Diggs stance is a good idea on a business level - lets not forget that they are a business. But the idealist in me says good for them. Some may snicker and look on at the move more cynically - a forced move for Digg... either a) comply and loose your community then have to shut down, or b) get shut down by a legal injunction. But I think compliance wouldn't have been that damaging to Digg. It seems more likely that they want to reflect the ideals of their user base, even if that includes potentially risky moves. So good idea or not, I like that they are now standing their ground.

With an air of whimsical nonchalance, Kevin Rose puts it:

If we lose, then what the hell, at least we died trying.

Good for them.

So it will be interesting how this plays out, not only for Digg, but as online communities are rapidly evolving in reach and structure, will this mean a new front is opening up for groups like RIAA?

They have traditionally proved a little sluggish at playing ball with the boom of new technologies and social trends. Using there massive legal capabilities may prove effective for a period of time, but it probably just sets themselves into some very inflexible and outdated tactics - just when they need to be more dynamic than ever.

No-one likes an ass hole, especially one that never grows up.