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GitHub repository for Sedgewick's Algorithms is taken down

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Re: GitHub repository for Sedgewick's Algorithms is taken down

#41

Post by rzzzt »

st_goliath wrote: post #31
phoe-krk wrote: post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yours sincerely, [private] Internet Investigator On behalf of: Pearson Education, Inc. ------------------------------------ Seems like another glorious victory of the overzealous online copyright strikers. Nothing out of the ordinary, will likely get sorted out in a day or two.

> Internet Investigator Haha... that's a brilliant euphemism for "profession Google user". Or maybe we could call it "serial scrapist"? Of all the silly titles I tried to come up with, this sure hadn't crossed my mind yet. And it has a catchy ring to it too. "Internet Investigator" got to be somewhere up there between "Adult Software Engineer" (middle ground between "Junior" and "Senior") and "Server Captain/Commodor…

I'm a bit of Web Browsing Enthusiast myself.

Re: GitHub repository for Sedgewick's Algorithms is taken down

#42

Post by st_goliath »

When I was an undergrad student, we had an algorithms and data structures lecture based on the Java version of the book. We also got an archive with the samples to work with that was IIRC GPL licensed.

Did this repo contain the code or the entire book as well?

In the former case, if I remember correctly, this DMCA claim would clearly be bogus. Yet another case where sending out DMCA claims having penalties for the sender if they are fraudulent, but putting a burden on the recipient who might suffer if they don't immediately act.

Re: GitHub repository for Sedgewick's Algorithms is taken down

#43

Post by calvinmorrison »

truth_ wrote: post #34
shakaijin wrote: post #22

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Also, they release new versions of books all the time and force their use in classes, making it impossible to use 2nd hand textbooks in a lot of cases. *I mean, come on. How of ten do fundamental physics change... Pearson is a company that should not exist.

That's an unethical practice employed by some companies. Although in many cases it can be circumvented by buying old textbooks anyway. I am glad that many CS authors nowadays make textbooks available for free. And companies like O'Reilly, Packt, and Manning provide DRM free copies.

If you have an ACM Membership, you get access to tons of books too!

Re: GitHub repository for Sedgewick's Algorithms is taken down

#44

Post by harikb »

patmorgan23 wrote: post #28
shakaijin wrote: post #22

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Also, they release new versions of books all the time and force their use in classes, making it impossible to use 2nd hand textbooks in a lot of cases. *I mean, come on. How of ten do fundamental physics change... Pearson is a company that should not exist.

Plugging open source text books. There are many high quality option out there that are openly licensed. Openstax is a project by Rice University that has textbooks for most gen ed courses. openstax.org/

Thanks for the link. Didn’t know. Btw, this is why they lobby for state mandates. A single teacher cannot make an exception

Situation in private school is not better. A prominent private high school in Bay Area, made me run around like a crazy man scavenging used books from all over the place because the recommended books were out of stock. They won’t publish the exact book name until after classes begin in August and apparently varies by teacher by year. This is after paying $$$ fees equivalent to buying a new car. Next year I pulled my kid out of it.

Re: GitHub repository for Sedgewick's Algorithms is taken down

#45

Post by shirleyquirk »

truth_ wrote: post #12

Not totally unrelated: Pearson is a piece of trash company. They sell very overpriced textbooks and always use DRM in online copies. They lobby for standardized tests in states and get them mandated. Students are put through them. And guess who provides the certificate required by teachers to evaluate those exam copies? Yes, Pearson. And they make a ton of money. Please watch this talk for more context (even if you d…

to start with I couldn't get over the presenter's poetry slam style but what made me cry serious salty f*ing tears was his explication of how inequality impacts day to day learning. as in hunger. literal, biological hunger the day before your standardized tests. stresses you had no input into and should have no bearing on your future.

Re: GitHub repository for Sedgewick's Algorithms is taken down

#46

Post by ur-whale »

truth_ wrote: post #12

Not totally unrelated: Pearson is a piece of trash company. They sell very overpriced textbooks and always use DRM in online copies. They lobby for standardized tests in states and get them mandated. Students are put through them. And guess who provides the certificate required by teachers to evaluate those exam copies? Yes, Pearson. And they make a ton of money. Please watch this talk for more context (even if you d…

libgen ftw

Re: GitHub repository for Sedgewick's Algorithms is taken down

#47

Post by mvolfik »

mellosouls wrote: post #4

The notice is here: https://github.com/github/dmca/blob/master/2021/04/2021-04-2... Kevin Wayne (repo owner presumably) is listed as co-author on the book that is published by Pearson, who have issued the notice. https://www.pearson.com/us/higher-education/program/Sedgewic...

yup, it was the author, see counternotice: https://github.com/github/dmca/blob/master/2021/04/2021-04-2...

Re: GitHub repository for Sedgewick's Algorithms is taken down

#48

Post by modin »

truth_ wrote: post #12

Not totally unrelated: Pearson is a piece of trash company. They sell very overpriced textbooks and always use DRM in online copies. They lobby for standardized tests in states and get them mandated. Students are put through them. And guess who provides the certificate required by teachers to evaluate those exam copies? Yes, Pearson. And they make a ton of money. Please watch this talk for more context (even if you d…

OT but is there a reason one would not like TED talks? Your parenthesis made me feel it could be controversial (comparable to social media).

Re: GitHub repository for Sedgewick's Algorithms is taken down

#49

Post by nullsmack »

dkjaudyeqooe wrote: post #11
troelsSteegin wrote: post #3

That seems odd, given that Kevin Wayne is co-author of the 4th edition of "Algorithms".

What seems odd is that the code is freely licenced to the public, no matter who wrote it. These DMCA requests are created and acted upon without the slightest checking, with no penalty. There should be some sort of modest cost somewhere to stop this nonsense.

There should be a 3-strikes and you're out when it comes to DMCA abuse. After 3 false DMCA notices you lose all copyrights. That will stop this abuse once and for all. Running automated systems that do nothing but harass people over things that they are legally able to do should be illegal.
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