Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Copyright infringement by German contact tracing app

github.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

121–130 of 164 posts

Re: Copyright infringement by German contact tracing app

#121

Post by alpaca128 »

rebuilder wrote: post #92
alpaca128 wrote: post #56

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In my homecountry someone gets hundreds of speeding tickets per year, always on the same road. Doesn't care. With a properly scaling fine they'll stop doing that quickly or lose out on more than just a little yacht. I'd say it's a pretty decent step, especially when combined with confiscation of the vehicle if it's a repeat offender or a severe case. As you said it may not be perfect...but I'd rather see that than so…

Hows this: get three speeding tickets, get your license suspended.

Well so what, then they'll drive without a license. As long as the punishment isn't sufficient to make the person care enough you will only nudge the threshold a bit under which people actually feel it.

Edit: Same with using the phone while driving. It's one of the biggest contributing factors to road accidents, yet here the fine for doing it is barely above the price for a decent headset. So most just don't care and trust the fact that well under 1% will ever be caught because the police either doesn't care either or just doesn't have the manpower to effectively enforce it.

Re: Copyright infringement by German contact tracing app

#123

Post by surfsvammel »

jkaplowitz wrote: post #110
Mordisquitos wrote: post #72

Earlier quoted context omitted.

One could always establish a minimum-living income that was immune to fines based on ratio of income, or consider specific expenditures to be protected from the calculation (e.g. rent or cost of travel to work). However, I can see how that could eventually lead to the truism becoming "If the penalty for a crime is an income-ratio fine, then that law only exists for the middle class, and not for the lower or upper cla…

I've often wondered whether penalties should target reputation more than they do, which would affect all classes of criminal including upper class. For example, as part of the sentence for violent crimes, the government could mail official press releases about the crime to all households in the area periodically for a certain amount of time after the conviction, or put up signs, at the criminal's expense (with a gove…

I see what you are getting at. Do you think it could go a bit overboard though? That it makes people kind of take the law into their own hands?

Re: Copyright infringement by German contact tracing app

#124

Post by atVelocet »

ramboldio wrote: post #85

For context: - We are talking about a file of 200 lines of code. - It's replaceable functionality that isn't exactly rocket science. - The issue was fixed within a few hours. [Edit: replaced "error" with "issue" to avoid implicit judgement and establish a common baseline]

For context: This doesn’t matter.

Also it’s a shame that there is no code to the rest (like backend) of this System.

I am totally fine judging something even for minor things when it was paid by tax money and it holds sensible data.

Re: Copyright infringement by German contact tracing app

#125

Post by surfsvammel »

alpaca128 wrote: post #56
hellotomyrars wrote: post #42

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You might be getting closer but someone who is just barely making ends meet could be ruined by that, where someone with obscene wealth can lose even 10% and still buy a yacht minutes later.

In my homecountry someone gets hundreds of speeding tickets per year, always on the same road. Doesn't care. With a properly scaling fine they'll stop doing that quickly or lose out on more than just a little yacht. I'd say it's a pretty decent step, especially when combined with confiscation of the vehicle if it's a repeat offender or a severe case. As you said it may not be perfect...but I'd rather see that than so…

In Sweden the fine is in proportion to your income. If you go too fast they take your drivers license. Repeat speeding too many times and they might also take your license.

Re: Copyright infringement by German contact tracing app

#126

Post by berkes »

skocznymroczny wrote: post #122

Interesting that people willingly install and there is a demand for a tracking application on their phones.

I don't know LUCA app, but the CoronaWarnApp[1] is not a "tracking application".

> The architecture follows a decentralized approach – based on the DP-3T and TCN protocols, as well as the Privacy-Preserving Contact Tracing specifications by Apple and Google.

Many, if not most, Corona "tracers" (note, the missing K) at least in Europe, work similar, if only because both Apple's iOS and Googles Android require such an architecture in order for those tracing apps to stay online and stay tracing.

[1] https://www.coronawarn.app/en/

Re: Copyright infringement by German contact tracing app

#127

Post by berkes »

kleiba wrote: post #63

Is it copyright infringement or breach of license agreement?

IANAL, but since most software licences work because of Copyrights, I suspect "both": as in: it is a copyright infringement, which is how you can enforce the licence agreement to be followed.

Re: Copyright infringement by German contact tracing app

#128

Post by iso1631 »

galangalalgol wrote: post #115
iso1631 wrote: post #113

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The UK act says I (P) committe an offence if (a)P offers, promises or gives a financial or other advantage to another person, and (b)P intends the advantage— (i)to induce a person to perform improperly a relevant function or activity, or (ii)to reward a person for the improper performance of such a function or activity. The definition of improper broadly boils down to > the test of what is expected is a test of what…

Does it matter that the tip is given after the service insteaf of before? My kids yoga teacher has a "pay what you can or what it is worth to you" scale so disadvantaged kids can come. I think of tips kind of like that.

No, it's both again induce (i.e before) and reward (i.e. after)

It comes down to the definition of "improper".

Re: Copyright infringement by German contact tracing app

#129

Post by scotty79 »

read_if_gay_ wrote: post #36
heckerhut wrote: post #13

Oh the irony. The LUCA app has been co-initiated and financed by Smudo [0], a famous German rapper. He was a supporter of Metallica suing Napster back in 2000 for copyright violation [1]. [0] https://www.chip.de/news/Kontaktverfolgung-mit-Luca-App-von-... [1] https://www.heise.de/newsticker/meldung/Smudo-vs-Napster-Da-...

It has been 21 years . Can we let the past go?

I don't think so. They were not children back then and there were no signs since then that they understood their mistake and now know better.

Re: Copyright infringement by German contact tracing app

#130

Post by berkes »

hnbad wrote: post #62
turblety wrote: post #48

Maybe I don't know the full story, but from reading this post and the comments it's a shame how peoples attitudes are towards this. When people violate the GPL, it's most likely due to ignorance. I really think we should encourage and act positively when commercial/corporate/enterprise crap opens up their source code. When we find a GPL (or any license violation), why can't we approach it politely (in the first case)…

That is true, but I feel like we should apply different levels of scrutiny to some small project and an app developed by people with close ties to government officials who received literally millions of Euros in public funding to develop and license this app. This isn't even a GPL violation as the code in question was licensed under a BSD license. They simply removed the original copyright notice, which may have been…

I am not familiar enough with BSD, but would it not be a licence breach, when you alter libraries with a BSD licence and redistribute those in a closed-source app?

At least with GPL that would most likely be the case.

If so, regardless of their "accidental tooling removing the copyright notice", they would be violating that copyright.

Also, IANAL.

Post reply on HN