Digg Yields To The Wrath Of The Crowd

In This Issue:
1. Editor's Note: Digg Does The Right Thing
2. Today's Top Story
    - Digg Yields To The Wrath Of The Crowd
    - HD DVD/Blu-ray Decryption Key Widely Posted Online
3. Breaking News
    - Tech Workers Were In A Great Mood About Jobs Last Month
    - Steve Jobs Affirms Apple's Commitment To Being Green

    - Supreme Court Ruling Fallout: Fewer Patents, More Litigation?
    - Qwest's Earnings Triple As The Company Looks Ahead To Networx Government Contract
    - IBM Introduces Recovery Software For Microsoft SharePoint
    - Microsoft Unveils New Management And Security Tools
    - 60% Of All Notebooks Will Use Flash Memory In Two Years
    - New System Finds And Fixes Java, C++ Bugs
    - Estimates Put T.J. Maxx Security Fiasco At $4.5 Billion
    - Microsoft Eyes 'Strong Growth' For Windows Mobile
    - Vonage Cites High Court Ruling In Appealing Patent Fight With Verizon

    - Sun Says Testing Of Rock Processor Ahead Of Schedule
    - U.S. Tech Firms Dabble Offshore, But Keep Most Workers Here
    - Steve Jobs To Keynote Apple's Worldwide Developers Conference
    - Apple Fixes 'Highly Critical' QuickTime Bug
    - Second Life Founder Outlines Plans For Global Domination
4. The Latest Security Blog Posts
    - E-Gold's Chairman Spoke Out Against Cybercrime, Until He Got Caught
    - You Aren't Safe. Get Over It.
5. Job Listings From TechCareers

6. White Papers
    - Addressing the Need for Network Business Intelligence for Telecommunications Service Providers
7. Get More Out Of InformationWeek
8. Manage Your Newsletter Subscription

Quote of the day:
"It took me 17 years to get 3,000 hits in baseball. I did it in one afternoon on the golf course." -- Hank Aaron

1. Editor's Note: Digg Does The Right Thing

Digg found itself in the middle of a classic journalistic dilemma Tuesday, and it made a decision that gives me hope for the future of journalism on the Internet: It decided that its first obligation was to the free flow of information. It's especially interesting since Digg was responding to a censorship demand based on the Digital Millennium Copyright Act, because it came on the same day that Google invoked the DMCA as a defense in a similar case. Wouldn't it be ironic justice if the DMCA, which Hollywood bought from Congress in 1998, turns out to be the Internet's best defense against Hollywood?

Digg's troubles began with posts on its site that included the encryption key that unlocks the Advanced Access Content System , the digital rights management scheme designed to prevent the copying of HD DVD and Blu-ray disks, legal and otherwise. Digg got a lawyer letter from the AACS Licensing Administration demanding that it censor the posts. It complied and put up a blog post early Tuesday afternoon announcing its decision. The action set off something of a firestorm among Digg's audience, and last night the founder of Digg posted a second blog entry that announced Digg had changed its mind and would stop removing posts that contain the key.I've got several questions about the whole thing. First and foremost, why in the world would the AACS Licensing Administration pull such a bone-headed move? The net result (pun intended) has been to propagate the encryption key far beyond its previously limited distribution. (Techdirt.com has a great entry that calls this the Streisand Effect.)

Second, I'd love to see the letter from the lawyers, to know exactly what they're basing their claim of DMCA violation on.

Finally, I wonder where this leaves us. It's not news that the DMCA is very, very bad law. It was Hollywood's sneak attack on the legal doctrine of fair use.

Read my blog post to get my take on the Digg/AACS Licensing Administration controversy and let me know what you think.

David DeJean

[email protected]
www.informationweek.com
2. Today's Top Story

Digg Yields To The Wrath Of The Crowd
Digg users would rather see the site go down fighting than give in to censorship, so Digg officials say they will no longer delete posts that contain a code that cracks encryption on high-definition disks.

3. Breaking News

Tech Workers Were In A Great Mood About Jobs Last Month
Report says IT professionals expect more hiring and fewer layoffs in coming months.

Steve Jobs Affirms Apple's Commitment To Being Green
Company's announcement of cleaner environmental practices draws praise from former critic Greenpeace.

Supreme Court Ruling Fallout: Fewer Patents, More Litigation?
A Supreme Court decision this week makes it tougher to prove that a technology is not obvious, one of the key hurdles for getting and defending a patent.

Qwest's Earnings Triple As The Company Looks Ahead To Networx Government Contract
Gains in Internet and video services, as well as the popularity of bundled offerings, were responsible for the strong performance.IBM Introduces Recovery Software For Microsoft SharePoint

The Tivoli Storage Manager for Microsoft SharePoint features modules that provide backup and recovery of SharePoint Portal Server 2003 and Office SharePoint Server 2007 environments.

Microsoft Unveils New Management And Security Tools
Microsoft also introduced System Center Essentials 2007, a unified management solution to help IT pros in midsize organizations more efficiently manage their technology environments.

60% Of All Notebooks Will Use Flash Memory In Two Years
By the fourth quarter of 2009, 24 million notebook PCs, or 60% of the total sold, will have flash data storage, iSuppli predicts.

New System Finds And Fixes Java, C++ Bugs
Coverity's new software seeks out flaws using multiple code analysis engines, along with a resolution system.

Estimates Put T.J. Maxx Security Fiasco At $4.5 Billion

The data breach at the major retailer will cost the company $100 per lost record, according to database security firm IPLocks.Microsoft Eyes 'Strong Growth' For Windows Mobile
Microsoft officials played down the threat from Apple's iPhone, one of the most anticipated new mobile phones in years.

Vonage Cites High Court Ruling In Appealing Patent Fight With Verizon
Vonage petitioned the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit in Washington to vacate and remand the lower court ruling that it lost last month.

Sun Says Testing Of Rock Processor Ahead Of Schedule
The company also said it reached a milestone recently by successfully booting the Solaris 10 operating system on the high-end chip for the first time.

U.S. Tech Firms Dabble Offshore, But Keep Most Workers Here
About half of CEOs at "fast growth" tech firms say their companies are recruiting talent outside North America, according to the new Deloitte 2007 CEO Survey.

Steve Jobs To Keynote Apple's Worldwide Developers Conference
The address will be a highlight of the five-day, 150-session conference, which will feature a showing of a complete version of the Mac OS X Leopard.Apple Fixes 'Highly Critical' QuickTime Bug

Now that a fix is out for the vulnerability, researchers say they expect hackers will use it to reverse-engineer the flaw and quickly create an exploit.

Second Life Founder Outlines Plans For Global Domination
Philip Rosedale, CEO of Linden Lab, talked about the company and service's open source plans, future business model, and stability problems, and he fielded questions about whether Linden Lab is open to being acquired by Google or anybody else.

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4. The Latest Security Blog Posts
http://www.informationweek.com/blog/security/

E-Gold's Chairman Spoke Out Against Cybercrime, Until He Got Caught
I read with great interest about a Washington, D.C., federal grand jury's decision late last week to indict E Gold Ltd., Gold & Silver Reserve Inc., and the owners of these digital currency businesses on charges of money laundering, conspiracy, and operating an unlicensed money transmitting business. I recently served on a grand jury in Brooklyn, so I know the joke about being able to indict a ham sandwich to be true (the most circumstantial of evidence will get your case sent to trial).You Aren't Safe. Get Over It.
The latest news to add to the list of online perils to be paranoid about comes courtesy of The Washington Post. Virus writers apparently have a new scheme for distributing malicious code: purchasing popular Google keywords and publishing ads that purport to lead users to legitimate Web sites. Some of the keywords the tricksters bought include "BBB" (for Better Business Bureau) and "Cars.com."

5. Job Listings From TechCareers

Benefitfocus.com, Inc. seeking Information Architect in Charleston, SC

University of California at Santa Cruz seeking Database Administrator in Santa Cruz, CA

Associated Bank seeking Business Systems Analyst in Green Bay, WIToyota seeking Information Systems Specialist - PeopleSoft in Erlanger, KY

The Chamberlain Group seeking SAP Web/Portals Architect in Elmhurst, IL

For more great jobs, career-related news, features and services, please visit CMP Media's TechCareers.

6. White Papers

Addressing The Need For Network Business Intelligence For Telecommunications Service Providers
Network business intelligence helps companies collect, correlate, and interpret telecommunications network and business data. It addresses telecom service providers' needs in recovering and optimizing network assets, and improving network and OSS data quality.
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