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It's not Github/Microsoft's responsibility to make legal determinations about whether a particular DMCA takedown notice is valid. I completely agree, on the ot

It's not Github/Microsoft's responsibility to make legal determinations about whether a particular DMCA takedown notice is valid. I completely agree, on the other hand, that a takedown notice issued knowingly without proper grounds should be penalised severely.

bleepblorp 6y ago
> It's not Github/Microsoft's responsibility to make legal determinations about whether a particular DMCA takedown notice is valid. Except, by choosing to honor it, they decided that it is legally valid. The appropriate response to a copyright claim against material that the claimant clearly does not own is 'unless you can prove that you own this material, come back with a court order.'
- dylan604 6y ago
  Is it? OR is it the prudent thing to do to temporarily make it unavailable. Then take a second to look at things, then bring it back again if that the action deemed appropriate? If doing nothing leaves the vulnerable while doing something that gets reversed gives them ammo to go after the accuser, then it seems the lesser of 2 evils to me
amatecha 6y ago
I mean, to be fair, they probably have one of the most colossal legal teams of any tech company, no? Regardless, I think they takedown without giving the "DMCA" complaint much scrutiny because the risk of penalty for NOT taking action is greater than just taking down the repo(s) risk-free. Github's ToS: which says "we have the right (though not the obligation) to refuse or remove any User-Generated Content that, in our sole discretion, violates any GitHub terms or policies." ( https://docs.github.com/en/free-pro-team@latest/github/site-policy/github-terms-of-service#2-github-may-remove-content https://docs.github.com/en/free-pro-team@latest/github/site-... ) I have to say it IS strange they took down content based on a letter that doesn't prove or even really suggest copyright infringement has taken place (only that it COULD, as a result of using the software), and their own ToS says "There may be legal consequences for sending a false or frivolous takedown notice." ( https://docs.github.com/en/free-pro-team@latest/github/site-policy/github-terms-of-service#f-copyright-infringement-and-dmca-policy https://docs.github.com/en/free-pro-team@latest/github/site-... )

bleepblorp 6y ago

> It's not Github/Microsoft's responsibility to make legal determinations about whether a particular DMCA takedown notice is valid. Except, by choosing to honor it, they decided that it is legally valid. The appropriate response to a copyright claim against material that the claimant clearly does not own is 'unless you can prove that you own this material, come back with a court order.'

dylan604 6y ago
Is it? OR is it the prudent thing to do to temporarily make it unavailable. Then take a second to look at things, then bring it back again if that the action deemed appropriate? If doing nothing leaves the vulnerable while doing something that gets reversed gives them ammo to go after the accuser, then it seems the lesser of 2 evils to me

amatecha 6y ago

I mean, to be fair, they probably have one of the most colossal legal teams of any tech company, no? Regardless, I think they takedown without giving the "DMCA" complaint much scrutiny because the risk of penalty for NOT taking action is greater than just taking down the repo(s) risk-free. Github's ToS: which says "we have the right (though not the obligation) to refuse or remove any User-Generated Content that, in our sole discretion, violates any GitHub terms or policies." ( https://docs.github.com/en/free-pro-team@latest/github/site-policy/github-terms-of-service#2-github-may-remove-content https://docs.github.com/en/free-pro-team@latest/github/site-... ) I have to say it IS strange they took down content based on a letter that doesn't prove or even really suggest copyright infringement has taken place (only that it COULD, as a result of using the software), and their own ToS says "There may be legal consequences for sending a false or frivolous takedown notice." ( https://docs.github.com/en/free-pro-team@latest/github/site-policy/github-terms-of-service#f-copyright-infringement-and-dmca-policy https://docs.github.com/en/free-pro-team@latest/github/site-... )