AACS Fiasco Wikipedia Roundup

After having a few days to percolate, Wikipedia's talk pages are now a tantalizing soup of arguments regarding the AACS processing key fiasco. The main debate attempts to resolve the question of "to publish or not to publish," although the discussion spills onto other intriguing topics as well, such as, "Are the hits on a Google search original research?" ("No original research" is one of Wikipedia's few content policies dictating what is acceptable for inclusion in an article.)

Talk page for "AACS encryption key controversy"

An argument for:

It would be a valuable addition to the article. In fact, it is the very subject of the article. If you don't know the number, this article doesn't tell you what it is. Likewise, a person who sees the number in an unconnected context currently has no way of relating it to this article.

An argument against:

It would be an unnecessary legal risk. Publishing the number may be illegal (see the EFF's article, for example), and could potentially cause Wikipedia to be sued under the DMCA. [...] Even if the chance of legal action is unlikely, and hasn't happened so far, why take the risk? Wikipedia would gain little by including it, and potentially has everything to lose. The risk just isn't worth the benefits.

Also consider taking a look at The Wikipedia "Administrators' noticeboard,"which contains an admin-only discussion about the posting of the key. The administrators seem more fearful of the potential legal consequences, which demonstrates how powerful of a censorship device the DMCA can be.

The New York Times Weighs in on the AACS Fiasco...

...and posts a direct link to a YouTube video where the code is sung! They were probably comforted by this:

However, with thousands of Internet users now impudently breaking the law, Mr. Sprigman said that the entertainment and technology industries would have no realistic way to pursue a legal remedy. “It’s a gigantic can of worms they’ve opened, and now it will be awfully hard to do anything with lawsuits,” he said.

They didn't mention us, though, which makes me sad.

Article.

Did our class indirectly cause the Digg revolt?

Let's take a look at this simplified timeline:
Before class 3:30pm (see picture at right you may need to click on it to enlarge it). There are 2 stories of interest "AACS licensing authority censors Cory Doctorow's class blog" on the main section and on the Top Stories section "Google & blogs issued with AACS Cease & Desist"

Then... people saw these take down posts and started posting the code which caused Digg to remove the posts, comments, and users which then rolled into the massive revolt which caused the first 3 pages of Digg to be filled with the code.

What do you think?

Digg Melts Down Over Alledged HD-DVD Censorship

So, it is 10 pm on Tuesday and Digg is facing a user revolt that could bring the whole system down. I can't quite pin down what ignited this firestorm, but as far as I can piece together, a couple of posts about the HD-DVD consortium and DMCA takedown notices were either removed or had their digg counts reset, along with the deletion of the accounts of the diggers involved. Right now there are more than two dozen consecutive stories on the front page, mostly jokes, all containing the "banned" hexadecimal key. It is an absolute madhouse.

UPDATE: ...and now digg is down. I'll keep you updated.

UPDATE #2 (10.40 PM): Digg is back up, and my initial estimate was a little, ahem, low. The number of key-related stories is now at 82. Crazy.

UPDATE #3 (11.00 PM): Here are some example posts:

All your base are belong to us. **KEY REDACTED** You have no chance to survive make your time.

Four score and seven years ago...**KEY REDACTED**

UPDATE #4 (11.10 PM): Digg is down again.

*** UPDATE #5 (2007.05.01 23:41:49) by Teque5 ***
Just so you know, this story is all over the ocean of subculture. You cant look 2 minutes on 4chan or YTMND with this code popping up.

Also, I put it up on my own website also. Nothing can stop the masses.

*** UPDATE #6 (2007.05.02 00:12:38) by Teque5 ***
Digg is back up with their own notice. Also, there is now a song and a few sites about this.

We're on Digg!

This has been a great semester... not only are we on Digg but we also got a take down notice... what could be better?

Google Will See You In Court, Viacom

Remember that little $1 Billion lawsuit Viacom filed against YouTube for "massive" copyright infringement? Many web pundits saw this as the first step on the long road to an eventual licensing deal, but today Google answered by declaring their intentions to fight it out in front of a jury:

"Viacom's complaint in this action challenges the careful balance established by Congress when it enacted the Digital Millennium Copyright Act," the answer reads in part. "By seeking to make carriers and hosting providers liable for Internet communications, Viacom's complaint threatens the way hundreds of millions of people legitimately exchange information, news, entertainment, and political and artistic expression."

Google's even hired some "ace trial lawyers" to help litigate. The spokesperson sounded quite confident in their decision to forgo negotiation, adding that Google is "more than happy to litigate. I don't view that as a business negotiation."