The office internet was crummy today and I just found out about the Diggnation Chaos.

Digg, for the uninitiated, is a social bookmarking website. Basically, diggers (or people who use digg regularly) can submit a story from other websites. The community votes for the significance of a story and those with the highest votes go to the front page. There are many other DIGG-like websites around the web (including our own NOYPI website). These websites are a great way to get a pulse of what people are talking about around the web.

The latest chaos in DIGG was chased when the Hex Code to Crack HD-DVD DRM was released. The company behind HD-DVD sent letters telling DIGG to remove all posts pertaining to the Hex Code Crack. DIGG founders promptly complied.

Guess what happened next- the entire DIGG community revolted. Everybody kept posting stories about the HD-DVD crack. In the end Kevin Rose acceded to the wishes of the community.

Personally, I think it’s like an online democracy in action. The voice of the people was heard and would not be ignored. I get images in my mind of the last EDSA 2 Revolution here in the Philippines when I think about this. You see, “EDSA 2″ was partly triggered when the senators decided not to open the possibly incriminating “second envelop” during former President Estrada’s impeachment trial. People had an idea of what was in the envelop and when opening it was denied, the public expressed its anger.

If people KNOW that information is being suppressed, people get ANGRY- angry enough to threaten revolution.

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