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> God this is depressing to read. Git (not "GitHub") is already a distributed VCS. This isn't hypothetical! I feel like you're missing the context in this thre

> God this is depressing to read. Git (not "GitHub") is already a distributed VCS. This isn't hypothetical! I feel like you're missing the context in this thread. My parent was giving federated protocols as as alternative to centralized platforms, and my question is what are the legal implications for me if I end up hosting illegal content because of a network sync of some federated git. Maybe social media is a less distracting example for you. Currently, Facebook is liable if they host e.g. child porn to their site. If some federated social media platform takes off where every user's computer takes part in also hosting, what happens when a child porn photo ends up on the platform? My point is that federated vs centralized is not a magic bullet for this issue. In either case, there is some platform which can be held liable for content. People seem to think "use open source distributed protocols" solves this legal issue, but it does not. > Ifyou're a random individual hosting a git repo containing illegal content, you might get sued, but much much more likely, you'd just get an angry email demanding you take it down. Is this true? I'm genuinely asking. Can I commit the same "crime" as GitHub or Facebook but be treated so differently by the legal system? What's the actual rules here that differentiates us?

ForHackernews 7y ago
I feel like you're wilfully missing the point. Let's leave aside child porn because that's an extreme case and I'm assuming you'd report that to the police if it showed up on your social media feed. In terms of less extreme cases, there's a fairly good chance that in the course of your normal browsing, you've illegally downloaded copyrighted content. Maybe deliberately, but also by accident if your browser cached some photos or you right-clicked and saved some images you didn't have a valid license for. Have you ever been sued for this? Do you know anyone who has?

ForHackernews 7y ago

I feel like you're wilfully missing the point. Let's leave aside child porn because that's an extreme case and I'm assuming you'd report that to the police if it showed up on your social media feed. In terms of less extreme cases, there's a fairly good chance that in the course of your normal browsing, you've illegally downloaded copyrighted content. Maybe deliberately, but also by accident if your browser cached some photos or you right-clicked and saved some images you didn't have a valid license for. Have you ever been sued for this? Do you know anyone who has?