So, many of you by now will have heard of the leaked encryption code for the AACS copy protection system used by HD-DVD and Blu Ray players.

Digg, one of the world's most popular websites (and one of the reasons everybody's banging on repeatedly about Web 2.0) allows users to post and vote upon news stories they like (or 'digg').  Digg employees have spent the last few days frantically trying to remove references to sites featuring the 'secret' encryption code, following a cease and desist order from an unnamed organisation.

The effect of this has been for tens of thousands of Digg users to repost the link over and over, causing Digg to crash and making it impossible for the link to be removed.  Digg's founder, Kevin Rose, has relented, saying the company would no longer delete such posts, even though that might lead to the site being shut down by lawsuits.

"After seeing hundreds of stories and reading thousands of comments, you've made it clear. You'd rather see Digg go down fighting than bow down to a bigger company. We hear you, and effective immediately we won't delete stories or comments containing the code and will deal with whatever the consequences might be," he wrote on Digg's blog. "If we lose, then what the hell, at least we died trying."

Well, it's a nice "I just don't care you know, I'm still on the cutting edge and you users are all great guys" response, but obviously he had no choice. 

It's not that big a deal, as far as I know the code is due to expire shortly.  But what is interesting here is just how rapidly news spreads once The Internet decides that someone needs to be taught a lesson.  The encryption code was actually released some months back, but, frankly, most people aren't interested in cracking HD-DVDs.  Only when the cease and desist orders became public knowledge did the code spread around like wildfire.

The result of the legal threats has clearly been the complete opposite to what was planned.  The code is so widely distributed online now that it cannot possibly be considered to be confidential - it's entirely 'out there' in the public domain, and surely anyone can now link to it without fear of reprisals?

What we need to remember:

1. There is no uncrackable copy protection.

2. If you copy protect something, someone will want to crack it, and show how clever they are by giving away as many copies as possible of your IP.

3. Legal challenges to user-generated content quickly create massive user resistance, and global awareness of whatever it was you were trying to keep quiet about. 

Everyone now knows you can crack HD-DVD and Blu Ray....and now that that Pandora's box has been opened, you can't just close it with a new code.  It's all part of the 'death of intellectual property'...but more on that anon.