Month: February 2023

GitHub’s user search page currently reports a healthy 108 million users but that still means a few billion internet users are missing out.

While notable alternatives exist, GitHub is a goldmine of information, ideas, and free education. That’s before considering the mountain of open source software available for download.

From those building promising software from scratch to those who just love to tinker, GitHub has something for everyone. But like all sites hosting user-generated content, GitHub regularly finds itself in the middle of third-party copyright disputes in need of a solution.

Software that may appear problematic at first glance cause almost no problems for Github. Powerful torrent site search tools, indexing software, and automatic content downloaders are rarely an issue. The same can’t be said for dedicated movie and TV show downloading apps advertised precisely for that purpose.

Other pieces of code exist in contested gray areas, with the 2020 takedown of youtube-dl perhaps the best example. That matter is effectively ongoing, with GitHub making a stand for the future freedoms of developers in the appeal of Yout vs. RIAA.

Since GitHub publishes all DMCA notices publicly, everyone gets an opportunity to see the law in action, beginning to end.

GitHub Transparency Report 2022

In 2022, GitHub received and processed 2,321 valid DMCA notices, an increase of almost 27% over the 1,828 notices reported for 2021. For reasons we’ll outline later, this shouldn’t be considered a major issue.

All DMCA notices for 2022 are available for viewing in GitHub’s DMCA repo, covering instances where GitHub took content down or asked users to remove infringing content instead.

Asking GitHub users to remove or modify content can help to prevent an entire repo from being taken offline – particularly useful when other projects rely on the original repo’s code.

Processing Erroneous, Abusive, and Other Notices

Thanks to transparency reporting in general (Google is the largest contributor by volume), abuse of the DMCA takedown system is regularly exposed. Most commonly, fraudulent notices are used to wipe out legitimate content.

In other instances, DMCA notices may go further than the law allows, contain errors, or even massive blunders. The targets of those notices can object via a DMCA counter notice. If the notice sender does not initiate timely legal action in response to a counter notice, disputed content is reinstated.

Some notices may present an opportunity to fix problems less formally, and GitHub can sometimes play a role in helping the parties reach an understanding, including by the sender retracting the complaint. Reversals apply when a seemingly valid DMCA notice is processed by GitHub but then invalidated by subsequent information.

“[W]e received and processed 36 valid counter notices, one reversal, and seven retractions, for a total of 44 notices that resulted in content being restored in 2022. We did not receive notice of any legal action filed related to a DMCA takedown request during this reporting period,” GitHub reports.

In any event, GitHub seems to work harder at resolving issues than other major platforms, which is a plus in a widely abused takedown system.

Anti-Circumvention Complaints

Narrowly-defined exceptions aside, software designed to circumvent technological protection measures, in place to protect underlying copyrighted content, is likely to violate section 1201 of the DMCA. Manufacturing, importing or offering these tools to the public is prohibited so if GitHub receives a complaint, a response is required.

As the continuing youtube-dl controversy demonstrates, a middle ground exists where rightsholders believe they have a clear anti-circumvention claim but others completely disagree. As a result, GitHub routinely scrutinizes claims made under section 1201.

When rightsholders file an anti-circumvention complaint with GitHub, the platform seeks additional information before taking action against a repository. Complainants are asked to supply information on the technical measures, explain how they effectively control access to copyrighted material, while showing that the project on GitHub circumvents those measures.

A unique feature of anti-circumvention notices is the lack of an official counter notice. That may explain why so many rightsholders have used them in place of regular takedown notices over the past several years. GitHub has certainly seen an increase.

“The proportion of takedown notices that allege circumvention increased significantly in 2022 compared to 2021,” GitHub reports.

In 2022, 15.7% of all notices sent to GitHub alleged circumvention, compared to just 5% in 2021. In 2020, similar allegations appeared in just 3% of notices.

Back in 2018, less than 2% of notices carried a circumvention claim. GitHub says it’s conducting an investigation to shine more light on the growing popularity of these notices.

Content Taken Down Overall

In 2022, GitHub took down 25,501 projects, including repositories, gists, and GitHub Pages sites. After processing counter notices, retractions, and reversals, 114 projects were subsequently reinstated. The final figure for 2022 was 25,387 projects permanently taken down, a 31% increase over the 19,276 projects reported in 2021. GitHub appears unconcerned.

“The number 25,387 may sound like a lot of projects, but it’s less than .02% of the more than 200 million repositories on GitHub in 2022,” the Microsoft company notes.

Receiving no complaints for 99.98% of uploaded content is quite an achievement but for some rightsholders, that’s still not good enough.

In notices sent to Google, they demand the removal of Github URLs from search results. They fail to achieve that goal 90% of the time showing once again that if content needs to be removed, the only effective method is targeting the source.

GitHub’s Transparency Report 2022 can be found here

From: TF, for the latest news on copyright battles, piracy and more.

Enlarge / Will someone please get this girl an electric heater?

New episodes of The Last of Us are premiering on HBO every Sunday night, and Ars' Kyle Orland (who has played the games) and Andrew Cunningham (who hasn't) will be talking about them here right after the episodes air. While these recaps don't delve into every single plot point of the episodes, there are obviously heavy spoilers contained within, so go watch the episode first if you want to go in fresh.

Kyle: Besides the obvious "move the plot forward" bits reuniting of Joel and his brother Tommy, I was surprised at how deep this episode went on the mental and physical anguish of an aging, obviously traumatized Joel. This kind of thing is hinted at in the games, especially the sequel, but it's more of a vague undercurrent beneath Joel's general image as "Unflappable Survivor Badass."

Andrew: The three-month time jump following last week's emotional wringer is enough time for Joel and Ellie to have made it from Missouri to southern Wyoming. Their dynamic doesn't seem to have changed much, but we do see Joel struggling with something that looks an awful lot like panic attacks. And then Joel finds his brother, who it turns out doesn't need so much saving after all.

The Jackson commune where they end up might be the only place outside of flashbacks that we've seen that feels genuinely safe, maybe even genuinely comfortable. There's no FEDRA, no vigilantes waving don't-tread-on-me flags, no sign of infected. They aren't doomsday preppers trying to go it alone. They have Christmas lights! They have movie nights.

Something about that setting plus seeing his brother again—it's easy to revert to a previous version of yourself when you see a close friend or family member you haven't seen in a while—totally shatters Joel's defenses, and all the emotional subtext of his relationship with Ellie just comes tumbling out.

She's obviously very worried about COVID

Kyle: Kind of a tangent, but this episode, and episode 3 before it, really hammer home how crucial consistent electricity is to a modern peacful society. Just having the ability to give the people some running water, heat, and movies to keep the kids busy seems to be the main difference between fascist dystopia and Jackson's idealized commune.

Andrew: There's some real truth to that. I was living in New Jersey (and my now-wife was out of town) when Hurricane Sandy hit, and our apartment complex took the better part of a week to get power restored. I was living a nomadic existence for a few days, bouncing between places with electricity while I waited for ours to come back. New Jersey still has these gigantic malls that are dying out most other places in the country, and you could go to one and see people gathered around those outlets they embed in the floors, all waiting for their phones to charge.

Having electricity and alcohol really seems to have taken the edge off for the people in this episode; if it weren't for the barricades (and the handwritten labels on all the whiskey bottles at the bar, a nice touch), Jackson could almost be a normal town.

How about this for a slogan: Jackson, city of brotherly love. Is that taken?

Kyle: I found myself wondering if Jackson's example could be replicated in other far flung communities in this world. Being in the middle of nowhere and unknown to short-wave radios seems pretty key to keeping them safe from Infected and raiders. Being a relatively small community also probably helps—harder to get up to no good if the entire town knows you by sight.

All that said, feels like a couple dozen guys from Kansas City with heavy artillery could overtake this idyllic hamlet and ruin it incredibly quickly.

Andrew: We're just going to quietly hope that no one does that!

It also doesn't hurt that Jackson has a consistent source of hydroelectric power, something that just won't be possible in a lot of other places.

Kyle: Yeah, if this outbreak had just happened 20 years later there would be tons of solar panels around to repurpose!

Andrew: Giant wind farms to tap into! Not to get political but I think renewable energy might be good?

Kyle: We need the Green New Deal to protect us from the zombie apocalypse!

Andrew: "I can't believe these commies want to take away our right to get infected by the deadly mushroom virus" says Tucker Carlson.

Just Ellie enjoying the best meal of her life...

Kyle: Speaking of politics, I loved Tommy's reaction to the undeniable fact that he has been living under communism for years and loving it. You can almost see his brain rewiring itself in real time.

Andrew: "Sure, we live in a commune, and everything belongs to everyone, but it’s not communism."

I do think the Big Emotional Decision in this episode feels just a little rushed. Joel bares his soul, Joel talks Tommy into taking Ellie, and then in the morning Joel has changed his mind and that’s that. It does work, it’s just a big pivot point for their relationship and it all happens pretty quickly.

Kyle: Yeah it felt kind of like an episode of Full House where Danny goes through a crisis of faith in his parenting and Uncle Jesse convinces him to just be cool about it and it all works out just in time for an all new Family Matters.

Are my timely sitcom metaphors working for you?

Andrew: Yes, this is a hip and current reference and I'm glad you made it.

Like a lot of the show's action sequences, the one at the science lab is a bit hard to comment on because it's pretty straightforward. A small roving band of Generic Jerks comes upon Our Heroes and fighting ensues. It is thematically resonant that Joel's fears about his own capabilities are proven "right" so soon after he acknowledges them.

And then the whole sequence with the monkeys and the university and everything set off my "this feels like a video game" sensors. Am I off the mark?

Joel at a respawn point.

Kyle: You're not. The whole last 15 minutes of the episode were pretty faithful to the games, as far as I remember. Which is a good opportunity for me to turn it around in you and ask you to predict what happens to Joel and Ellie after this cliffhanger...

Andrew: Well I don't want to spoil anything for anyone, but if Joel dies he just respawns at the last save point. So the only question for viewers is how much of the monkey-college sequences we'll need to watch a second or third time while Joel tries to get a handle on the enemies' attack patterns.

I suspect that Ellie, having been trained in the ways of survival, will suddenly find herself in the role of Unlikely Protector while Joel convalesces, may make an unlikely friend or two in trying to find him help. I am not sure about that but I'm more sure than I am that the show is going to let a main character die this early.

Kyle: I’d point you to the first season of Game of Thrones as a counterexample, but I’m pretty sure no one at HBO is using that as a guiding document for this...

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