strange symphonies

Digg Malaysia, Malaysia’s Large Disrespect For Intellectual Property

Well I was waiting for it to hit the infamous digg.com to pick it up, and finally it has… Digg Clone in Malaysia (links to Digg Malaysia)

So Arsyan, you’ve finally been caught, and dugg. Happy?

The comments on digg’s site are interesting. Basically not too many people are happy with it. Of course, who wouldn’t be?
The main argument is, there is no problem copying Digg, but as long as you make it look different. There is even encouragement for localization, which I think should be the direction Digg Malaysia should take. It has a direct resemblance to version 2.0 of Digg. Even the comments given by Malaysians say this.

A Moment of Justice

At least a moment of justice was struck on the Internet when Digg Malaysia was dugg to death.

The Legal Solution

I am interested to see if Digg.com will try to seek legal action towards Digg Malaysia. Now this will be an interesting thing to see? Why? Because I don’t recall ever seeing any sort of thing like this happen in Malaysian history. Especially with Malaysians understanding very little about Intellectual Property, making the case even more fun! Or maybe someone can update me. Best of luck to both sides!

Or how about if this were to happen?

An Alternate Solution

Am I the only one who sees the potential here? Kevin and Co. shouldn’t be trying to shut these guys down, they should be handing them the olive branch. Localized versions of Digg, under the official company and trademark would make Digg even a stronger presence and more true to the “Content for Everyone” philosophy that I always thought Digg was about. I say instead of trying to get these guys in a court, the higher ups should try to make them an official branch.

Comment by TemporalRift

Sounds like an interesting idea.:P

Comments by (supposed) Malaysians

So I’ve found some comments on the site, and listed them down. Basically people Malaysians aren’t too happy.

Note: All emphasis was added by me

wow, Malaysia memang boleh copy sia…
what a blatant act of counterfeiting, a 100% full duplicate, at least put some thought in changing the name and design? the site’s making a bad name for my nation man, what a disgrace

Comment by orangysb

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Malaysian, but I‘m not proud of the blatant copying of other people’s sites.

Change the name, graphics, hell, change everything and try to at least be creative. This is shameful!

Comment by Idyllrain

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Thank-you for proving to the entire world just how lame us Malaysians are at coming up with our own ideas and developing original internet services.

This Sucks

Comment by AceMcAbe

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being a malaysian, i wish there were more technopreneurs here who would actually put in effort into making original and high-quality websites, portals or social news sites; not blatant rip-offs and clones. yes we all love digg, but cloning it word for word, css for css just isn’t the way to go.

Comment by jeremyisaacelee

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i think im gonna be sick…
doesnt make it better to know im malaysian either

Comment by praveenmarkandu

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I’m embarrassed to be Malaysian. We copy everything, and we are also always seeking worldly recognition by doing the most outlandish of things to get into the Guinness Book of Records. I think it’s a Napoleon complex that all Malaysians suffer from. Like a shorter man wanting to get attention in a crowd of tall people, he stands on a box. And since we don’t have an ounce of ingenuity in us, we go around and pull off a “copy pasta” on anything we see.

Comment by Onsokumaru

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Im malaysian, I think they should change the layout.

Comment by kayid

Conclusions

Obviously from the Malaysian responses, Malaysians aren’t too happy about it, ashamed, and embarrassed.

The fact that people aren’t too happy about is also important. This minor population understand the shame in copying original products. Wait a minute? Isn’t that what the fight for piracy was all about? Do these people understand and respect IPR more than others? Especially when the product is a good one?

I bet a lot of Malaysians hold respect for digg.com.

• Is this the best Malaysian technopreneurs can do?
• How will Malaysia face piracy on the web?

So Arsyan, it seems you have brought shame to Malaysia. What are you going to do about it? Can you make Malaysians proud? At least thanks for highlighting how prevalent piracy and disrespect for intellectual property is in Malaysia. This is a good example, and I hope that it strikes into the hearts of many Malaysians (or perhaps just the readers of Digg).

Some Better News

Actually it’s not all bad news. I was linked to BizBox.com.my and look and behold, they use the Tango Desktop Project Icon set. All good and dandy, but I didn’t see any attribution. So I decided to email them, and they noticed it as well, and said they will put it up soon :). Looking forward to it.