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HackerRank (YC S11) DMCA'ed the SymPy Docs [fixed]

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Re: HackerRank (YC S11) DMCA'ed the SymPy Docs [fixed]

#191

Post by behringer »

haltingproblem wrote: post #95
travisoliphant wrote: post #61

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Thanks for showing up here and replying. I can understand the net being cast too wide for a real problem you are trying to solve. It does have real consequences for already under-resourced communities, though. I appreciate the "fix-it-twice" attitude implied by the RCA promise (Root Cause Analysis for those who also had to look it up). Also, consider recognition and restitution for the unnecessary work you created fo…

Quoted post unavailable.

I believe they would "donate" the money, but that's only if they can get a signed agreement not to be countersued.

Re: HackerRank (YC S11) DMCA'ed the SymPy Docs [fixed]

#193

Post by rvivek »

gfd wrote: post #71
rvivek wrote: post #37

Hello, I'm Vivek, founder/CEO of HackerRank. Our intention with this initiative is to takedown plagiarized code snippets or solutions to company assessments. This was definitely an unintended consequence. We are looking into it ASAP and also going to do an RCA to ensure this doesn't happen again. Sorry, everyone! EDIT: update here https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=31092085

You can't copyright algorithmic code snippets . It's like trying to copyright math. You will have an insane amount of false positive from every repository that have ever implemented a prefix sum or binary search. (Or anything autocompleted using github copilot or alphacode which I believe is trained on competitive programming styled submissions from codeforces and atcoder) The solution would be to build some sort of…

I'm sorry. I should have clarified and I can't edit my original comment now. I meant plagiarized problem statements. Usually these sites have the entire problem statements from our website along with the solution (aka code snippets to solve.)

Re: HackerRank (YC S11) DMCA'ed the SymPy Docs [fixed]

#194

Post by philderbeast »

rvivek wrote: post #159

Hello again, Vivek, founder/CEO here. In the interest of moving swiftly, here are the actions we are going to take: (1) We have withdrawn the DMCA notice for sympy; Sent a note to senior leadership in Github to act on this quickly. (2) We have stopped the whole DMCA process for now and working on internal guidelines of what constitutes a real violation so that these kind of incidents don't happen. We are going to do…

As far as (2) is concerned there is only one solution

1) register the copywrite of the tools you have written inhouse for hacker rank and 2) ONLY issue DMCA claims based on your registered copywrites.

The questions and peoples answers to them are not something you should EVER have even considered issuing takedown notices for.

Re: HackerRank (YC S11) DMCA'ed the SymPy Docs [fixed]

#195

Post by b20000 »

rvivek wrote: post #37

Hello, I'm Vivek, founder/CEO of HackerRank. Our intention with this initiative is to takedown plagiarized code snippets or solutions to company assessments. This was definitely an unintended consequence. We are looking into it ASAP and also going to do an RCA to ensure this doesn't happen again. Sorry, everyone! EDIT: update here https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=31092085

I hope that all of your snippets and solutions are continued to be spread as coding interviews need to disappear and are the ultimate evil our industry has been dealing with now for several years. Besides, it's not your property anyway, it's the property of those taking the coding interviews.

Re: HackerRank (YC S11) DMCA'ed the SymPy Docs [fixed]

#196

Post by philderbeast »

rvivek wrote: post #193
gfd wrote: post #71

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You can't copyright algorithmic code snippets . It's like trying to copyright math. You will have an insane amount of false positive from every repository that have ever implemented a prefix sum or binary search. (Or anything autocompleted using github copilot or alphacode which I believe is trained on competitive programming styled submissions from codeforces and atcoder) The solution would be to build some sort of…

I'm sorry. I should have clarified and I can't edit my original comment now. I meant plagiarized problem statements. Usually these sites have the entire problem statements from our website along with the solution (aka code snippets to solve.)

Most, if not all, of the problem statements won't even qualify for copywrite, they are generic problems that people have been stating for decades or more and as such are extreamly unlikly to be unique or original to hackerrank.

I am sure however you have already assesed this and applied for the appropriate registration for these works that you are claiming to own the copywrite to? right?

Re: HackerRank (YC S11) DMCA'ed the SymPy Docs [fixed]

#197

Post by EdwardDiego »

Andoryuuta wrote: post #8

This same DMCA company (WorthIT Solutions) previously tried to DMCA the php docs range function page on behalf of HackerRank [0]. Pretty crazy. [0]: https://www.mail-archive.com/php-webmaster@lists.php.net/msg...

Haha wow. What hurts my soul the most is that there is no penalty, legal, financial or reputational, for this kind of bogus behaviour, like how Sony's YT bots keep claiming ownership of any performance or recording of a piece of classical music because they hold copyright over one particular recording of that piece.

The fact that there isn't any downside just shows what poor legislation the DMCA is.

If you told me that the DMCA was written entirely by the music copyright industry and handed to compliant congress members to rubber stamp, I'm likely to believe you.

Re: HackerRank (YC S11) DMCA'ed the SymPy Docs [fixed]

#198

Post by b20000 »

jeroenhd wrote: post #78
rvivek wrote: post #37

Hello, I'm Vivek, founder/CEO of HackerRank. Our intention with this initiative is to takedown plagiarized code snippets or solutions to company assessments. This was definitely an unintended consequence. We are looking into it ASAP and also going to do an RCA to ensure this doesn't happen again. Sorry, everyone! EDIT: update here https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=31092085

Are you seriously claiming copyright over other people's solutions? You have *no* right, legally or ethically, to exercise any kind of control over "solutions to company assessments" under the DMCA. At worst, you can try to exercise the controls in the EULA that your victims agreed to, but this sounds like abuse of the legal system.

exactly. the solutions are the property of those taking the interviews.

Re: HackerRank (YC S11) DMCA'ed the SymPy Docs [fixed]

#199

Post by b20000 »

rvivek wrote: post #42
endisneigh wrote: post #40

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I’m curious - why even bother? What will you do if someone torrents the solutions? Focus on figuring out another solution. Leetcode for instance puts the solutions out there.

It's not an either or. We need to do the takedown AND figure out a way where we can do things like randomizing questions but preserving the integrity of it to ensure a fair evaluation, etc.

no, you need to find a better business idea

Re: HackerRank (YC S11) DMCA'ed the SymPy Docs [fixed]

#200

Post by Jcowell »

ep103 wrote: post #175
johnsillings wrote: post #155

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why?

Because it is a horrifically flawed metric by which to hire engineers, and is teaching upcoming crops of engineers valueless skills to enter the industry

I disagree. Kind of. There are many questions that are bullshit puzzle types but I do think HR and LC provides value of teaching when a Data Structure or algorithm is suitable for use. At the very least, It’s far better means of understanding the flexible use that college textbooks don’t teach while having test cases to see pitfalls of implementations. Having a community that shows ingenious ways of tackling problems is valuable too.
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