My Latest Brush with the Corporate Internet: GitHub Has My Stolen Code
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My Latest Brush with the Corporate Internet: GitHub Has My Stolen Code
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Re: My Latest Brush with the Corporate Internet: GitHub Has My Stolen Code
#2What’s wrong with hiring a lawyer to assert your rights?
Re: My Latest Brush with the Corporate Internet: GitHub Has My Stolen Code
#3What’s wrong with hiring a lawyer to assert your rights?
the cost can be prohibitive for some people
Re: My Latest Brush with the Corporate Internet: GitHub Has My Stolen Code
#4What’s wrong with hiring a lawyer to assert your rights?
It costs money. Many people rely on the fact that lawyers are expensive as a defacto deterrent from legal action.
Re: My Latest Brush with the Corporate Internet: GitHub Has My Stolen Code
#5Repo seems to be: https://github.com/Mr-Steal-Your-Script/bwfForum
Edit: yep, that's it. Here's the commit that removes the "Sh*t Message": https://github.com/Mr-Steal-Your-Script/bwfForum/commit/184a...
Re: My Latest Brush with the Corporate Internet: GitHub Has My Stolen Code
#6It's not GitHub who stole the code, it's a GitHub user who published it there against the licensing terms.
While I do share the author's frustration with the fact that GitHub does zero fact checking, my concerns go entirely in the other direction: much of the internet now works in such a way that a DMCA takedown notice will effectively remove any content someone doesn't want out there.
I do understand why platforms do it like this, being in the business of arbitrating who is right and who is not is not feasible (and it's probably also not legal).
Criticisms of this process should be levied against lawmakers and the law itself.
However, to be perfectly frank, it's a good thing that hiring a lawyer to send this letter on your behalf is the minimum effort required to do this. Of course that doesn't solve malicious takedown notices sent by big law firms and corporations, but I do believe it limits the overall amount of letters that get sent.
Re: My Latest Brush with the Corporate Internet: GitHub Has My Stolen Code
#7What’s wrong with hiring a lawyer to assert your rights?
It costs money. Many people rely on the fact that lawyers are expensive as a defacto deterrent from legal action.
And if GitHub required a person who posted code legitimately and was subject to vexatious interference from fake copyright claims to hire a lawyer, it would cost that person money.
Safe harbor doesn't give much guidance to hosting companies about who needs to hire the lawyer, other than to note that if they try to practice law by adjudicating these cases themselves, they're on the hook to hire the lawyer.
Re: My Latest Brush with the Corporate Internet: GitHub Has My Stolen Code
#8Re: My Latest Brush with the Corporate Internet: GitHub Has My Stolen Code
#9Sadly, this is corporate America these days. We are living in the Cyberpunk future where corporations have the upper hand and are not required to provide an actual reasonable human to investigate or pass judgement on your issue. You see it with the algos that run user interfacing parts of Youtube, Facebook regularly.
It's messed up. I'm sorry your code got stolen.
Re: My Latest Brush with the Corporate Internet: GitHub Has My Stolen Code
#10This kinda misrepresents the DMCA process.
You do not have to hire a lawyer, you only have to start a lawsuit over the case.
a default in your favor because he failed to respond is likely how that process would go, otherwise he has to identify himself and you suddenly regain the option of suing for fees
side-edit: Ironically enough, if he had gone open source, he could get free legal help dmca'ing the repo in court for the removal of the copyright messages from the Software Freedom Law Center.