Culver City (CA) - Several thousand years in the future historians and archeologists will wonder why a certain number in 2007 was so popular.  Lawyers and even the administrators of Digg.com, a popular news aggregator, tried to stop the spread of the AACS processing key, but in so doing made the 32-digit hexadecimal number the most popular number in modern history.

Upset Digg users, angry over mass deletions of stories and the banning of users started a cyber-riot late yesterday and plastered the entire front page of the site with stories of the processing key which starts with 09 F9.  We don’t have to print the key here because it is easily found all over the web.  In fact a Google search for “09 F9” brings up almost 2 million hits and that number is sure to rise even further.

Digg administrators tried in vain to control the riot, but like a warrior trying to cut off the head of the mythical Hydra only to have two grow back in its place; more stories were popping up as one was taken down.

Some Digg users even accused the website of bowing to movie industry pressure because some of Digg’s podcasts are sponsored by the HD DVD association.

The strain became too great for Digg and the website was temporarily shut down.  Later in the night the website was resurrected and co-founder Kevin Rose threw in the virtual towel by allowing posts about the number adding that Digg users would, “rather see Digg go down fighting than bow down to a bigger company.”

In a blog post, Rose said his administrators initially deleted the posts because he feared legal action.  “We had to make a call, and in our desire to avoid a scenario where Digg would be interrupted or shut down, we decided to comply and remove the stories with the code,” said Rose.

The cyber-riot didn’t just hit Digg, but has spread all over the web and into mediums you would have never thought of.  Various eBay auctions featuring websites, shirts and buttons with the processing key appeared.  It’s unknown whether the sellers actually had product or if they simply wanted the hexadecimal number to appear in another website.

Photography websites were flooded with hundreds of pictures and drawings of the processing key.  You can see these by simply searching for 09 F9 in Flickr and Photobucket.  One creative fellow even made a catchy song titled “Oh Nine, Eff Nine” with all the digits sung to a nice guitar background.

Interestingly enough, posts about the processing key are dying down on Digg which proves that trying to suppress something will just make things worse… and in this case much worse.

Some Digg users are happy that things are getting back to normal.  “OMG DUGG because of no ******** numbers,” one Digg member replied. 

CODE IS NOW A T-SHIRT!

May 02, 2007 14:35     

OMFG- Moe Wampum Tees now has the code on a t-shirt http://moeschwag.com/hcrcot.html
joshua22 report abuse vote down vote up Votes: +0

Awesome

May 02, 2007 14:38     

I love the power of the internet masses. Acts such as these will only continue to happen the more corporations and industries try to shove copyrights, DRM, and the like down our throats. The internet is a free place, and we the users want to keep it that way.
gm0n3y report abuse vote down vote up Votes: +0

8675309

May 02, 2007 14:49     

8675309... oh wait... no dang, that Tommy Tutone.
G report abuse vote down vote up Votes: +0

Not all diggers alike

May 02, 2007 17:32     

It is important to note that not all diggers reacted with the same teenage basement mutiny mentality: http://www.paydayloanaffiliate.com/blog/DiggersVsDigg.aspx
Joe report abuse vote down vote up Votes: +0

our world

May 02, 2007 18:23     

The internet is OUR world, not theirs. Seems like we should declare our independence, stop living in fear under the rules of people who do not live here... seems like this sort of thing has happened before... some sort of new country was founded... but how would that work? mabie some sort of neutral UN internet committiee made of internet elected officials, with all internet laws voted for or against by us, the internet? hmm seems like something could be done about this... instead of the US on another big ol' blind rampage.

michael report abuse vote down vote up Votes: +0

Digg Vs Digg

May 03, 2007 01:57     

Well I think Digg won this round...
Jeffro report abuse vote down vote up Votes: +0

WTF?

May 03, 2007 08:22     

"We don't have to print the key here because it is easily found all over the web." Are they aware that it is in the post? It is one of the Digg topics in the picture. The key joins yet another website. LOL.
Dan report abuse vote down vote up Votes: +0