Do new GitHub terms of use conflict with copyright?
The updated GitHub terms of use are of great concern, but while they are confusing, they do not seem incompatible with the copyright left. The Free Software Foundation (FSF), however, still recommends using other sites to host programs.
Section D.4 states: “You grant us and our assignees the right to store and display your Material and create auxiliary copies to the extent necessary to display the Website and provide the Service” [0] . At first glance, it may seem that this gives you rights to your work without the accompanying protective safeguards contained in copyright-left licenses such as the GNU General Public License (GPL). Users who care about their programs never becoming non-free would not want to give such unconditional permission. And those who post work, which include third-party programs under the author's left, may not even have the right to give such permissions.
But licenses like the GPL already give the necessary permissions to create, use and modify local copies of work. Do new GitHub terms require more? Not entirely clear. Although, in general, the wording of permissions may be appropriate for the scope of the GPL, other words used in this section, such as “exchange” or “distribution”, may be perceived as something not consistent with the terms of the GPL.
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We encounter a similar situation in section D.5 of the terms, which states: “You provide each GitHub User with a non-exclusive worldwide license to access your Material through the GitHub Service, and also grant the right to use, display and execute your Material, as well as reproduce your Material exclusively on GitHub to the extent permitted by GitHub functions ” [1] . Again, looking at the conditions, you might think that GitHub is requesting your unconditional permission for your work, this time for other GitHub users. But again, licenses like the GPL already allow users to get a derivative work and make their own changes to their copy. It’s not clear whether GitHub is asking for something more. In addition to this, in the new conditions of use there are no fundamental differences from the previous wording .
We understand why users are concerned: conditions clauses are not easy to understand. This is a common issue with terms of service and end-user license agreements. Due to the fact that we are talking about protection provided by copyright licenses, users are especially cautious. Since it is very unlikely that GitHub intended to destroy its business model and user base, we do not interpret the ambiguity in the clauses of the terms as granting or demanding too broad rights other than those already provided by the GPL. This would not correspond to the changes in favor of the author's left, which they spent last year on choosealicense.com. The relevant clauses of the terms appear to be simply a repetition of the typical terms of a free license. But additional clarity — if it were said that when the posted work already comes with a license giving GitHub the rights necessary for the operation of its services, then an additional license is not required — it would contribute a great deal to eliminating this confusion, and we hope that GitHub will release one edition of the terms to make it.
Of course, if this bothers you, you can stop posting your programs on GitHub. Previously, GNU rated GitHub “F” (unsatisfactory) for its repository ethical criteria for a number of reasons important for those who want respect for their user freedom and respect the freedom of others, including because important site functions require working with non-free JavaScript .
FSF has contacted GitHub both on terms of use and on other issues of program freedom. We will continue to do everything possible to clarify the ambiguity of the conditions, to eliminate doubts about their compatibility with the basic guarantees of protection provided by licenses with copyright left. Here is what you can do to help us:
[0] the []]
[1] “GitHub’s agreement for all users of GitHub’s functionality”
Translation of Donald Robertson statement.GitHub has recently updated its terms of use . Site users express serious concern that the new conditions may be incompatible with copyright licenses for works posted on GitHub. In particular, section D of the new conditions, which describes the transfer of rights to the GitHub service and its users, causes genuine harassment to many hackers.
Section D.4 states: “You grant us and our assignees the right to store and display your Material and create auxiliary copies to the extent necessary to display the Website and provide the Service” [0] . At first glance, it may seem that this gives you rights to your work without the accompanying protective safeguards contained in copyright-left licenses such as the GNU General Public License (GPL). Users who care about their programs never becoming non-free would not want to give such unconditional permission. And those who post work, which include third-party programs under the author's left, may not even have the right to give such permissions.
But licenses like the GPL already give the necessary permissions to create, use and modify local copies of work. Do new GitHub terms require more? Not entirely clear. Although, in general, the wording of permissions may be appropriate for the scope of the GPL, other words used in this section, such as “exchange” or “distribution”, may be perceived as something not consistent with the terms of the GPL.
')
We encounter a similar situation in section D.5 of the terms, which states: “You provide each GitHub User with a non-exclusive worldwide license to access your Material through the GitHub Service, and also grant the right to use, display and execute your Material, as well as reproduce your Material exclusively on GitHub to the extent permitted by GitHub functions ” [1] . Again, looking at the conditions, you might think that GitHub is requesting your unconditional permission for your work, this time for other GitHub users. But again, licenses like the GPL already allow users to get a derivative work and make their own changes to their copy. It’s not clear whether GitHub is asking for something more. In addition to this, in the new conditions of use there are no fundamental differences from the previous wording .
We understand why users are concerned: conditions clauses are not easy to understand. This is a common issue with terms of service and end-user license agreements. Due to the fact that we are talking about protection provided by copyright licenses, users are especially cautious. Since it is very unlikely that GitHub intended to destroy its business model and user base, we do not interpret the ambiguity in the clauses of the terms as granting or demanding too broad rights other than those already provided by the GPL. This would not correspond to the changes in favor of the author's left, which they spent last year on choosealicense.com. The relevant clauses of the terms appear to be simply a repetition of the typical terms of a free license. But additional clarity — if it were said that when the posted work already comes with a license giving GitHub the rights necessary for the operation of its services, then an additional license is not required — it would contribute a great deal to eliminating this confusion, and we hope that GitHub will release one edition of the terms to make it.
Of course, if this bothers you, you can stop posting your programs on GitHub. Previously, GNU rated GitHub “F” (unsatisfactory) for its repository ethical criteria for a number of reasons important for those who want respect for their user freedom and respect the freedom of others, including because important site functions require working with non-free JavaScript .
FSF has contacted GitHub both on terms of use and on other issues of program freedom. We will continue to do everything possible to clarify the ambiguity of the conditions, to eliminate doubts about their compatibility with the basic guarantees of protection provided by licenses with copyright left. Here is what you can do to help us:
- Use an ethical repository for your needs.
- Contact GitHub and share your concerns.
- Support our work in the struggle to ensure that there are respectable freedom of service placement programs, making a donation or becoming a member partner .
[0] the []]
[1] “GitHub’s agreement for all users of GitHub’s functionality”
Translated in the GNU Russian Translation Group - join us !
Copyright © 2017 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
Copyright © 2017 Ivan Gumenyuk (Russian translation)
This work is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivs license ( Attribution - No Derivative Works ) 3.0 USA .
Source: https://habr.com/ru/post/325524/
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