Geek Uprising Shows Futility of Web Censorship

The flash riot of Internet crusaders who disseminated the code to decrypt HD DVDs over the last few days should teach entertainment companies to think long and hard about their anti-piracy strategy, the New York Times notes. The standard cease-and-desist letters sent to websites to keep the code out of circulation had the opposite effect.

The tipping point came when community-based site Digg bowdlerized the 32-digit code from posts; within hours  it was was all over the Web, in every form from digital photographs to song lyrics. "They started sending threatening letters," a digital rights lawyer tells the Times; now "the Internet has turned the number into the latest celebrity." (More internet stories.)