Losing control of your company
Let’s say you create a business. You’re doing your thing and you have a specific set of goals in mind.
Fighting the digital revolution ain’t one of them.
Someone posts code on your site that is knowingly against ToS. You think it’s cool but in the end take it down to avoid the legal hassle. It’s knowingly again the ToS and it’s not the first time something has been removed. People felt they had been censored, start to revolt by posting the code all over the place. In the end you decide to listen to the people, and refuse to remove the code any more and go one step further by submitting an article to your own site violating your own ToS, and asking people to support the article.
That’s what happened on Digg this week and this is when Digg lost control of their company.
The MPAA, RIAA, etc. are lawsuit happy. They file suits they doubt they will win. I’m sure Digg made their day because this is a lawsuit they will most likely win.
Let’s face the facts: if the Digg community gave a damn about Digg, they wouldn’t have forced the owners into a position they clearly did not want to be in. Digg has employees they are responsible for. Investors that they have contractual obligations for. True, they have an obligation to their users but those same users want the site up AND free, right? If the majority of people are wrong do you listen to them? No.
It’s not about the key anymore. Everything Kevin and the crew has done will be up for grabs…that’s not a good thing. If the MPAA, RIAA can’t win “this” fight there is enough ammo for them to win others, against Kevin and the crew personally.
Gotta love that community support, don’t ya?
Sure, having the ability to control the content purchased would be nice but it’s how this fight took place. Did the founders of Digg decide “we want to take this fight on”, seek legal advice on how to actually win, accumulate the funds necessary so the site would not be in jeopardy, THEN start the fight? No. Did the Digg community give them the chance to do that so it would be a win/win situation for everyone? No.
This week we learned how immature, irresponsible and selfish the Digg community is. This week Digg learned that they no longer have control over their company - any decision that goes again what the owners want to do, the users will revolt…and it doesn’t matter if it’s in the best interest of Digg or not. Digg learned this week they are too weak to stand up to the pressure.
What dumb ass enters a fight without being in the strongest position possible? Oh, well, hmm…gotta love that Digg community, right?
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