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GitHub Copilot as open source code laundering?

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Re: GitHub Copilot as open source code laundering?

#151

Post by formerly_proven »

pjerem wrote: post #142
petercooper wrote: post #117

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's what I was wondering. I've never been interested enough to steal anyone else's code, but with all the code transformers and processing tools nowadays, I imagine it's trivial to translate source code into a functionally equivalent but stylistically unique version?

The question is not if it's trivial or not, but if it is legal or not. You can already technically steal GPLv2 by obfuscating it.

Assuming ML models are causal, then bits of GPL code that fall out of the model have to have the color GPL, because the only way they could've gotten there was to train the ML using GPL-colored bits. It seems to me like the answer here is pretty obvious, it doesn't really matter how you copy a work.

Re: GitHub Copilot as open source code laundering?

#152

Post by yaitsyaboi »

jordemort wrote: post #91
invokestatic wrote: post #69

Earlier quoted context omitted.

By uploading your content to GitHub, you’ve granted them a license to use that content to “improve the Service over time”, as specified in the ToS[1]. That effectively “overrides” any license or term that you’ve specified for your repository, since you’ve already licensed the content to GitHub under different terms. Of course, people who are not GitHub are beholden to the terms you specify. [1] https://docs.github.co…

I think more specifically, the relevant bit is here: https://docs.github.com/en/github/site-policy/github-terms-o... > We need the legal right to do things like host Your Content, publish it, and share it. You grant us and our legal successors the right to store, archive, parse, and display Your Content, and make incidental copies, as necessary to provide the Service, including improving the Service over time. This l…

Wait so does this mean a “private repo” is meaningless and GitHub can share any code in any repo with anyone?

Re: GitHub Copilot as open source code laundering?

#154

Post by amelius »

WillDaSilva wrote: post #138
amelius wrote: post #127

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Except some random nobody can become a disruptor.

I was debating bringing up disruptors when I made the grandparent comment. My 2 cents: they can shift the balance of power at the very small scale (e.g. "some random nobody" getting rich, or some rich person going bankrupt), but the large scale power structures almost always remain largely intact. For instance, that "random nobody" may well get rich through the sale of shares in their company - now the company is own…

Uber vs taxi companies, Google vs Yahoo, or Facebook vs MySpace, Amazon versus all retailers ...

Re: GitHub Copilot as open source code laundering?

#155

Post by diffeomorphism »

invokestatic wrote: post #69
jordemort wrote: post #56

What happens when someone puts code up on GitHub with a license that says "This code may not be used for training a code generation model"? - Is GitHub actually going to pay any attention to that, or are they just going to ingest the code and thus violate its license anyway? - If they go ahead and violate the code's license, what are the legal repercussions for the resulting model? Can a model be "un-trained" from a…

By uploading your content to GitHub, you’ve granted them a license to use that content to “improve the Service over time”, as specified in the ToS[1]. That effectively “overrides” any license or term that you’ve specified for your repository, since you’ve already licensed the content to GitHub under different terms. Of course, people who are not GitHub are beholden to the terms you specify. [1] https://docs.github.co…

How is this different from uploading a hollywood movie to youtube? Just because there is a passage in the terms that the uploader supposedly gave them those rights, this does not mean they actually have the power to do that.

Re: GitHub Copilot as open source code laundering?

#156

Post by Hamuko »

invokestatic wrote: post #69
jordemort wrote: post #56

What happens when someone puts code up on GitHub with a license that says "This code may not be used for training a code generation model"? - Is GitHub actually going to pay any attention to that, or are they just going to ingest the code and thus violate its license anyway? - If they go ahead and violate the code's license, what are the legal repercussions for the resulting model? Can a model be "un-trained" from a…

By uploading your content to GitHub, you’ve granted them a license to use that content to “improve the Service over time”, as specified in the ToS[1]. That effectively “overrides” any license or term that you’ve specified for your repository, since you’ve already licensed the content to GitHub under different terms. Of course, people who are not GitHub are beholden to the terms you specify. [1] https://docs.github.co…

I sort of doubt that GitHub could include GPL code in a piece of closed-source program that they distribute that "improves the service" and claim that this gives them the right.

Re: GitHub Copilot as open source code laundering?

#157

Post by tan2tan2 »

koonsolo wrote: post #54

I propose we as developers, start a secret society where we let the AI write the code, but we still claim to write it manually. In combination with the new working from home policies, we can lay at the beach all day and still be as productive as before. Who is in favor of starting it? ;)

How can I be sure that you are a real person not GPT-3? ;)

Re: GitHub Copilot as open source code laundering?

#158

Post by sandyarmstrong »

yaitsyaboi wrote: post #152
jordemort wrote: post #91

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think more specifically, the relevant bit is here: https://docs.github.com/en/github/site-policy/github-terms-o... > We need the legal right to do things like host Your Content, publish it, and share it. You grant us and our legal successors the right to store, archive, parse, and display Your Content, and make incidental copies, as necessary to provide the Service, including improving the Service over time. This l…

Wait so does this mean a “private repo” is meaningless and GitHub can share any code in any repo with anyone?

Why do you think people care so much about end-to-end encrypted messaging?

Yes, the concept of a "private" repo is enforced only by GitHub's service. A bug in their auth code could lead to others having access. A warrant could lead to others having access. Etc.

Re: GitHub Copilot as open source code laundering?

#159

Post by georgeplusplus »

nextaccountic wrote: post #98
pc86 wrote: post #53

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Every decade was supposed to see fewer hours working for higher pay and quality of life. It didn't happen, as business owners (not just 1% fat cats, the owners of mom and pop shops are at least as guilty as anyone, they just sucked at scaling their avarice). So the claim that this technological revolution will be different and that it will result in a broad social safety net, universal basic income, and substantive,…

You are right that this won't happen by itself. We need another economic system, and not just hope that this time things will magically fix themselves.

This new economic system you want has been in use since the 70s. Everything about the economy is practically socially managed these days.

What part of printing trillions of dollars to stimulate economic productivity is somehow a free market system?

Re: GitHub Copilot as open source code laundering?

#160

Post by phendrenad2 »

VMtest wrote: post #33

gonna develop my own linux-like kernel soon, with my own AI model trained on public repositories wanna see the source code of my AI model? oh, it's closed source it's just coincidence that nearly 100% of my future linux-like kernel code looks the same as linux the kernel, bear in mind that my closed-source AI model takes inspiration from GitHub Copilot, there is no way that it will copy any source code

Nothing is closed-source to the courts.
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