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RIAA Takedowns Backfire as Pirated MP3s Now Surface on GitHub

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Re: RIAA Takedowns Backfire as Pirated MP3s Now Surface on GitHub

#102
post #93
post #80

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Making developers afraid to work on youtube-dl is a much more powerful move than taking down a few songs that were already available for free on YouTube.

If developers are afraid, they will be tempted to program a solution for censorship-resistant hosting of open source software that additionally allows to contribute anonymously (not just pseudonymously).

the problem is lot of the incentive to contribute for free is the name recognition. Lot of dev see it as a way to show what they can do (portfolio) because that can’t share the code they produce at work

Re: RIAA Takedowns Backfire as Pirated MP3s Now Surface on GitHub

#103
post #93
post #80

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Making developers afraid to work on youtube-dl is a much more powerful move than taking down a few songs that were already available for free on YouTube.

If developers are afraid, they will be tempted to program a solution for censorship-resistant hosting of open source software that additionally allows to contribute anonymously (not just pseudonymously).

Wait, that's just Git with extra steps

Re: RIAA Takedowns Backfire as Pirated MP3s Now Surface on GitHub

#104
post #99

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm not so convinced. Seeing as I use a number of issue trackers and code review systems daily and most of them are trash. I'm very happy for git to serve as a compatible core and I can "easily" move between systems as they improve. Basically I am glad that git does source control well. And I prefer that there is a marketplace of issue trackers, patch management and CI software layered on top. Until we have a clear e…

I see where you're coming from, but that does create a big barrier to decentralization. The youtube-dl source code is safe and sound but as far as I know all the issues, discussions, unmerged PRs and more are lost forever. I suppose the ideal would be if git somehow provided a low level API that could be used to build these types of solution and then everybody would be free to build their own solution on top of it. M…

> all the issues, discussions, unmerged PRs and more are lost forever

I don't see your argument here. Any decentralized solution wouldn't really help here if it wasn't used. And if it was used any decentralized solution would have helped even if it wasn't built into git.

Is the argument that if we bundled it together people would be more likely to use it?

Re: RIAA Takedowns Backfire as Pirated MP3s Now Surface on GitHub

#105
post #96

This didn't backfire for the RIAA, it backfired for GitHub , who are absolutely not the bad guys in this. They have expressed more support for the project than they would have needed to and are bound to laws.

Github's failure is one of principles. That the youtube-dl repository is actually a violation is tenuous at best. Should they actually care about the state of things they would have resisted, but they did not.

No, GitHub did everything "right", or at least as right as the law allows. DMCA 1201 is really just that overbroad, and if GitHub hadn't complied with the takedown anyone involved with that decision would literally be put in jail. Unlike normal copyright infringement (which is usually just a shitton of money damages) messing with DRM is a felony, punishable by up to five years in jail.

Unless you literally want Microsoft to start committing insurrection against the US government. I'd rather lose youtube-dl than live in a world where tech companies are corporate sovereigns.

Re: RIAA Takedowns Backfire as Pirated MP3s Now Surface on GitHub

#106
post #63

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If only we had some form of decentralized source code management.

The problem is that git is not feature complete to replace github. In hindsight I wish it had gone the Fossil route: integrate issue management in the distributed repo. If issues, wiki and code review were integrated in git proper it would be trivial to change host on a dime. Unfortunately it doesn't work that way (yet?).

Actually, why couldn't you keep issues as text files in a folder in the repo... I mean, you've got your CI stuff and documentation and everything else in there.

Re: RIAA Takedowns Backfire as Pirated MP3s Now Surface on GitHub

#107
post #51

This didn't backfire for the RIAA, it backfired for GitHub , who are absolutely not the bad guys in this. They have expressed more support for the project than they would have needed to and are bound to laws.

In the short-term, no. In the long-term - should companies like Microsoft get sick of their crap, all of the RIAAs power is based in regulatory capture. We can (and should) change the copyright laws that enable them to sue someone over a creative work that quite frankly they shouldn't get a single piece of after an extremely short period of time. The RIAA is big, Microsoft is much, much bigger and could tie them up i…

Setting aside the fact that Microsoft is a member of the RIAA alongside other major companies, the RIAA isn’t the only one interested in lobbying for strict copyright laws. There’s the MPAA, Disney, Viacom, etc. Ask Google how they fared when Viacom tried to sue YouTube into oblivion. :) Hint: Content ID

Re: RIAA Takedowns Backfire as Pirated MP3s Now Surface on GitHub

#108

> While GitHub’s CEO Nat Friedman was annoyed by RIAA takedown efforts, he stressed that the platform legally had to comply, which it did. It would be nice if for once platforms stood up legally for their users when they believe its unjust.

Yeah! Why can't Microsoft executives just risk years of jail time, or just overthrow the US government and write their own laws? /s

Re: RIAA Takedowns Backfire as Pirated MP3s Now Surface on GitHub

#109
post #61

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Not necessarily. Remember what happened when Digg tried to ban anyone from posting the 09F9 number because it was a secret key to some DVD thing? The users revolted so hard that the people managing the site gave up and let it stand. Then again... who remembers Digg?

> Then again... who remembers Digg? I do. It was pretty good, then they destroyed it, de facto paving the way for Reddit's success.

I hope something replaces reddit soon. The creeping features are beginning to rot.

Re: RIAA Takedowns Backfire as Pirated MP3s Now Surface on GitHub

#110
post #90

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Mozilla jumped the shark when they relented to supporting EME and packaging Widevine and OpenH264 with an otherwise-FOSS product. It's not as though a fork couldn't have added those. And despite adding those the user share of Firefox continues to decline.

How Mozilla has changed in the last years hurts the most. I do think the leadership just wants to profit from the name and it will at one point cease to exists. It has done much for the net though, it should not be forgotten.

they are just trying to stay alive
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