Mar 18, 2024 08:00:00

Over 20,000 GitHub projects received deletion notices for copyright violations in one year

In an effort to combat copyright infringement, the number of sites and content removed based on

the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) is increasing year by year.For example, Google reported that the number of DMCA applications in 2022 will reach 680 million , which is the highest on record. It is reported that the number of updates is increasing . Even on GitHub, a software development platform, the number of projects deleted due to DMCA notifications is on the rise, and it has been announced that 20,517 projects were deleted in 2023.

GitHub Transparency Center | DMCA
https://transparencycenter.github.com/dmca/

DMCA Notices Took Down 20,517 GitHub Projects Last Year * TorrentFreak
https://torrentfreak.com/dmca-notices-took-down-20517-github-projects-last-year-240308/

More than 420 million pieces of code and software are published on GitHub, and some content may have copyright infringement issues.

There are two main types of copyright violation issues that occur on GitHub. One is that the released code itself is a copy or imitation of an existing program or content, publishes data that should not be made public, or distributes pirated software. In the past, part of Twitter's (currently In some cases, it was deleted.

It was discovered that part of Twitter's source code had been leaked on GitHub and had been publicly available for several months - GIGAZINE

Second, the published code may be a program for storing pirated books or music or for circumventing regulations and accessing it illegally. In February 2024, Nintendo filed a lawsuit against the Nintendo Switch emulator ``Yuzu'', which is mostly developed on GitHub. As a result, Tropic Haze, the developer, is permanently prohibited from developing or hosting Yuzu, distributing code or functionality, hosting websites and social media promoting Yuzu, or any other activity that circumvents Nintendo's copyright protections. We agreed to stop.

Nintendo Switch emulator Yuzu, which was sued by Nintendo, agrees to pay compensation and the release ends immediately - GIGAZINE

In addition, there has been confusion over the deletion of the YouTube video downloader ` `YouTube-DL '', and there has been confusion over whether it should be deleted, and GitHub CEO Nat Friedman has expressed his intention to `` reinstate the repository as soon as possible. '' It attracted a variety of topics. GitHub has a culture of promoting free and open source software, and it is often difficult to draw the line between this idea and copyright infringement, which often leads to debate.

GitHub updated its transparency report in early March 2024. According to its Transparency Report page, GitHub 'handles DMCA complaints with the goal of preventing legitimate projects from being disrupted and maximizing the usefulness of our code. We designed the DMCA takedown policy to protect the interests of developers from overreaching takedown requests.Each time we receive a DMCA takedown notice, we evaluate whether the notice is valid or not, and if we are unable to determine that there is a violation. 'Rather than deleting things until proven guilty, we will temporarily move them to a public DMCA repository ,' he said, showing a certain degree of caution in DMCA deletion.

The graph below shows the number of deletion notices that were processed as requested in light blue, and the number of deletion notices that were withdrawn or canceled in light blue. GitHub has been processing about 100 to 200 deletion notices almost every month since January 2021, and about 5 to 10 deletion notices are withdrawn every month. More than 2,000 cases will be processed in 2023.

In addition, the graph below shows the number of projects affected by DMCA deletion requests, with a wide difference from about 600 projects in the least months to about 5000 projects in the most months. The graph below also shows deleted projects in light blue and restored projects in dark blue, but the number of restored projects stands out at 34 in April 2021 and 58 in February 2022. Other than that, there are fewer than 10 cases in most months. In 2023, there were 20,517 repositories affected by deletion notification processing.

In addition, the graph below shows the number of claims for '

circumvention of technological protection measures ' based on Section 1201 of the DMCA. Bypassing technological protection measures refers to code created to circumvent digital regulatory programs, such as copy guards or prohibitions on downloading streamed content. The number of cases in which rights holders allege circumvention of technical protection measures is increasing year by year, with a particularly rapid increase from 92 cases in 2021 to 365 cases in 2022 and 406 cases in 2023. . Regarding the reason for this spike, GitHub says, ``Beginning in the fall of 2021, we updated the DMCA takedown submission form and added questions regarding circumvention of technological safeguards.As a result, circumvention claims increased, but at the same rate. 'The number of deletions has not increased.'

The number of GitHub deletions is increasing year by year, and while the number of GitHub repositories itself will increase more than 10 times from just under 40 million in 2015 to over 400 million in 2023, the number of deletions will triple. The rate of deletions is not increasing at the same rate as the rate of repository growth. Additionally, the number of deleted repositories increased by approximately 6,000 from 2021 to 2022, but decreased by approximately 5,000 from 2022 to 2023.

GitHub has a team of lawyers and engineers who review all removal requests to prevent developers' projects from being deleted without good reason. As a result, the increase in circumvention notifications is extremely costly for GitHub, but GitHub is putting more effort into developing a DMCA policy and is actively implementing measures that balance copyright protection and developer protection. Shows attitude.