GitHub complains about the introduction of monitoring system for EU copyright protection purpose

ByBen Nuttall

EUIs considering introducing a monitoring system to protect the copyright of contents uploaded on the Internet. This surveillance system is mainly intended for music and video contents delivered by streaming services such as YouTube. However, I am managing Git's hosting serviceGitHubAccording to the description contents of the examination proposal, source code will also be included in the monitoring targets, which makes it a complaint that there is a danger that the reliability of software will be reduced.

EU wants to require platforms to filter uploaded content (including code) | The GitHub Blog
https://blog.github.com/2018-03-14-eu-proposal-upload-filters-code/

What GitHub cites as a problem with the source code monitoring system is mainly the following three points.

◆ Privacy protection
It is pointed out that the monitoring system is "general surveillance" which is practically prohibited in EU law.

◆ Strong authority
When a surveillance system is introduced, it will be positioned as an intermediary service between users and GitHub. However, in the EU Law, monitoring of content is forbidden even mediators, and it is inconsistent with the law. Furthermore, if the intermediary service considers it illegal, it is allowed to freely delete the contents. Therefore, even if the surveillance system erroneously deleted it, there is a high possibility that the responsibility is not asked if there is a reason, "Because there was a possibility of illegal ... ...", the authority of the surveillance system side is very strong It seems to be concerned about becoming.

◆ Inefficient
When the surveillance system erroneously deletes the contents due to false detection etc., the system side is not responsible, so there is a risk of GitHub not directly involved being sued by the uploader. It seems that GitHub feels pretty dissatisfied because it introduces only disadvantages by introducing the monitoring system.

ByPaul Downey

We point out that it can not be ignored for software developers by introducing a monitoring system in GitHub. The software developer (author) edits the source code it himself / herselfOpen SourceSuppose you want to share on GitHub as. However, the source code itself has also been edited by many programmers in the past, or in the case of software consisting of multiple source codes, the license may vary depending on the function. In other words, depending on the project, it may have a complicated license form, and it seems that there is a high possibility that the monitoring system erroneously deletes judgment.

For this reason, the introduction of the monitoring system is not only for GitHub but also for users, the convenience is impaired and there is a danger that it will be impossible to update the software which should be applied originally.