https://developers.slashdot.org/story/21/07/30/2330253/after-youtube-dl-incident-githubs-dmca-process-now-includes-free-legal-help Slashdot * Stories * + Firehose + All + Popular * Polls * Deals * Apparel Submit Search Slashdot [ ] * Login * or * Sign up * Topics: * Devices * Build * Entertainment * Technology * Open Source * Science * YRO * Follow us: * RSS * Facebook * Google+ * Twitter * Youtube * Newsletter Please create an account to participate in the Slashdot moderation system Nickname: [ ] Password: [ ] [ ] Public Terminal --------------------------------------------------------------------- [Log In] Forgot your password? Close binspamdupenotthebestofftopicslownewsdaystalestupid freshfunnyinsightfulinterestingmaybe offtopicflamebaittrollredundantoverrated insightfulinterestinginformativefunnyunderrated descriptive typodupeerror Slashdot Apparel is back! SHOP NOW! | Do you develop on GitHub? You can keep using GitHub but automatically sync your GitHub releases to SourceForge quickly and easily with this tool and take advantage of SourceForge's massive reach. Check out all of SourceForge's improvements. | Follow Slashdot on LinkedIn x 149581171 story Programming DRM Open Source The Courts Youtube Your Rights Online After YouTube-dl Incident, GitHub's DMCA Process Now Includes Free Legal Help (venturebeat.com) 24 Posted by EditorDavid on Saturday July 31, 2021 @10:34AM from the call-my-lawyer dept. "GitHub has announced a partnership with the Stanford Law School to support developers facing takedown requests related to the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA)," reports VentureBeat: While the DMCA may be better known as a law for protecting copyrighted works such as movies and music, it also has provisions (17 U.S.C. 1201) that criminalize attempts to circumvent copyright-protection controls -- this includes any software that might help anyone infringe DMCA regulations. However, as with the countless spurious takedown notices delivered to online content creators, open source coders too have often found themselves in the DMCA firing line with little option but to comply with the request even if they have done nothing wrong. The problem, ultimately, is that freelance coders or small developer teams often don't have the resources to fight DMCA requests, which puts the balance of power in the hands of deep-pocketed corporations that may wish to use DMCA to stifle innovation or competition. Thus, GitHub's new Developer Rights Fellowship -- in conjunction with Stanford Law School's Juelsgaard Intellectual Property and Innovation Clinic -- seeks to help developers put in such a position by offering them free legal support. The initiative follows some eight months after GitHub announced it was overhauling its Section 1201 claim review process in the wake of a takedown request made by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA), which had been widely criticized as an abuse of DMCA ... [M]oving forward, whenever GitHub notifies a developer of a "valid takedown claim," it will present them with an option to request free independent legal counsel. The fellowship will also be charged with "researching, educating, and advocating on DMCA and other legal issues important for software innovation," GitHub's head of developer policy Mike Linksvayer said in a blog post, along with other related programs. Explaining their rationale, GitHub's blog post argues that currently "When developers looking to learn, tinker, or make beneficial tools face a takedown claim under Section 1201, it is often simpler and safer to just fold, removing code from public view and out of the common good. "At GitHub, we want to fix this." [apply tags ] - Related Links - Google Play Gets Mandatory App Privacy Labels In April 2022 After Restoring YouTube-dl, GitHub Revamps Its Copyright Takedown Policy A Pilot Reported Another 'Possible Jet Pack Man' Near Los Angeles After YouTube-dl Incident, GitHub's DMCA Process Now Includes Free Legal Help More | Reply Login After YouTube-dl Incident, GitHub's DMCA Process Now Includes Free Legal Help Post Load All Comments Full Abbreviated Hidden /Sea Score: 5 4 3 2 1 0 -1 More | Reply Login Nickname: [ ] Password: [ ] [ ] Public Terminal --------------------------------------------------------------------- [Log In] Forgot your password? Close Close Search 24 Comments Log In/Create an Account Comments Filter: * All * Insightful * Informative * Interesting * Funny The Fine Print: The following comments are owned by whoever posted them. We are not responsible for them in any way. * Youtube-dl incident? (Score:1) by Arzaboa ( 2804779 ) writes: I sure wish the article would have opened with their premise. Can someone fill in the rest of us, what is "The youtube-dl incident?" -- There are always going to be bad things. But you can write it down and make a song out of it. - Billie Eilish + + Re:Youtube-dl incident? (Score:5, Informative) by Entrope ( 68843 ) writes: on Saturday July 31, 2021 @10:49AM (#61641573) Homepage Previously, on Slashdot: https://slashdot.org/story/377... [slashdot.org] https://slashdot.org/story/378... [slashdot.org] https://slashdot.org/story/378... [slashdot.org] (That's a lot of 8s!) Reply to This Parent Share twitter facebook Share on Google+ Flag as Inappropriate o * Not a copyright issue (Score:2) by cygnusvis ( 6168614 ) writes: A tool that accesses publicly accessible data is not violating any copyright + + Re: (Score:2, Insightful) by J.L. Pettimore ( 8392827 ) writes: What's the difference between youtube-dl and the VCR? I thought this issue was settled 40 years or so ago? o o # # @ # 1 reply beneath your current threshold. o 1 reply beneath your current threshold. + Re: (Score:2) by Cajun Hell ( 725246 ) writes: It's about 1201, not classical copyright as most people understand it. A tool can easily violate that part of the law, regardless of how publicly accessible something is. IMHO the best (and also easiest) solution is to just repeal 1201. Then everyone wins. o o # # Re: (Score:3) by shentino ( 1139071 ) writes: The problem is that the DMCA's perjury provisions are very one sided and in favor of the copyright holder. And everyone knowing what they do on slashdot about politics I doubt anyone here thinks that's an accident. @ o 1 reply beneath your current threshold. * Microsoft is amusing (Score:5, Interesting) by Rosco P. Coltrane ( 209368 ) writes: on Saturday July 31, 2021 @11:28AM (#61641615) They once were the champions of closed-source software and used to go after creative coders "abusing" and cloning their APIs and functionalities in their products like rabid dogs on steroid. Now they defend open-source and open-source developers. Whodathunkit eh? I still don't trust them though. They must have some motivation that isn't the developers' best interest. They're like new converts who sing the hymns and praise the lord louder everybody else in church: they're suspicious - and slightly annoying too, cuz nobody likes holier-than-thou johnny-come-latelies. After decades of old Microsoft, they'll need a lot more time to convince me they've seen the light. Reply to This Share twitter facebook Share on Google+ Flag as Inappropriate + + Re:Microsoft is amusing (Score:4, Interesting) by samdu ( 114873 ) writes: on Saturday July 31, 2021 @12:08PM (#61641679) Homepage Same here. I lived through the decades of MS doing everything in their substantial power to eliminate competition and own every market they put their eyes on. Through both acceptable and very unacceptable ways. I'm not sure there is enough time to allow me to trust them or not. But I know enough time hasn't elapsed yet. Reply to This Parent Share twitter facebook Share on Google+ Flag as Inappropriate o + Re: (Score:1) by zkiwi34 ( 974563 ) writes: Simple. They own GitHub. They will be scraping any and all code and incorporating bits they like into their own code. Proving it, pretty nigh impossible. Maybe a honeypot thing where code that is incredibly tempting that has some pretty much unnoticeable hook that can be used to proved they jacked your code. But then they will just drown you in lawyers. Simply go nowhere near GitHub. Cannot see a reason why a local drive, usb even, would not be a better place to develop personal code. o * + * + + Re: (Score:2) by RockDoctor ( 15477 ) writes: Never having considered uploading anything to youtube - nor ever seen any reason to do so - I've always assumed that somewhere in their Ts&Cs there is a phrase about them examining uploads for copyright violations. I also don't understand this thing people have for putting up videos which are intended to be functional of some sort - tear-downs and HOW-TOs and the like - with some irritating music track laid over the top. Just, why? You've got your content ; it's functional ; why make it harder for peopl o * Gotta kill the DMCA, and CDA while we're at it (Score:1) by fustakrakich ( 1673220 ) writes: Sure wish we would stop reelecting people that created this mess and vote for people that will do the job + * + * Did the citizens of the USA ask for DMCA (Score:2) by Malays2 bowman ( 6656916 ) writes: No? Then it should be null and void. + + Re: (Score:2) by RockDoctor ( 15477 ) writes: Did the citizens of the USA ask for a taxation system? o o Re: (Score:2) by shentino ( 1139071 ) writes: Yes we did, when we decided taxes should be collected by a democracy instead of a monarchy. # # Re: (Score:2) by RockDoctor ( 15477 ) writes: And you've delegated your decision-making powers to your government, so there you are. Yes, you've asked for it. And you've got it. Sideways and lube-free. @ @ - @ 1 reply beneath your current threshold. * I look forward to (Score:2) by nagora ( 177841 ) writes: MS publishing the source code for Windows, for "the common good". + * owners (Score:2) by shentino ( 1139071 ) writes: Isn't Github owned by Microsoft? Interpret as you will. And yes, I am well aware that this is slashdot. Please try to bear in mind any bias on the part of the reader, and that includes but is not limited to any responses to this post. + * 3 replies beneath your current threshold. * There may be more comments in this discussion. Without JavaScript enabled, you might want to turn on Classic Discussion System in your preferences instead. 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