Your Code Isn't Safe

in #informationwar6 years ago


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So Microsoft is buying out GitHub for $5.7 billion. Let us all keep in mind exactly what is currently in the Microsoft ToS

By agreeing to these Terms, you’re agreeing that, when using the Services, you will follow these rules ...

  • iv. Don’t publicly display or use the Services to share inappropriate content or material (involving, for example, nudity, bestiality, pornography, offensive language, graphic violence, or criminal activity) ...
  • Don’t engage in activity that is fraudulent, false or misleading (e.g., asking for money under false pretenses, impersonating someone else, manipulating the Services to increase play count, or affect rankings, ratings, or comments) ...
  • vii. Don’t engage in activity that is harmful to you, the Services, or others (e.g., transmitting viruses, stalking, posting terrorist content, communicating hate speech, or advocating violence against others) ...
  • b. Enforcement. If you violate these Terms, we may stop providing Services to you or we may close your Microsoft account. We may also block delivery of a communication (like email, file sharing or instant message) to or from the Services in an effort to enforce these Terms or we may remove or refuse to publish Your Content for any reason. When investigating alleged violations of these Terms, Microsoft reserves the right to review Your Content in order to resolve the issue. However, we cannot monitor the entire Services and make no attempt to do so.

So what this could mean is that should you publish anything microsoft sees as "offensive", "harmful" or "fraudulent", they have the power to take it down, lock you out, and turn you over to the authorities. This is dangerous and should you have anything important on GitHub (like the defcad 3d printed guns repositories), you should grab them now and don't look back. These are dangerous waters and we should find an alternative not owned by a corporate giant.

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-@roofcore

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There is some merit to those terms, though; we don't need malware breeding, for instance, and in a repository hosting service such as that, why would there even be a need for images like that?

I agree with that idea to a degree. Generally speaking, I think that there are good intentions behind those policies, but they could be used for censorious purposes. Example: taking down nude pictures of someone because they are offensive seems reasonable, but what if someone's 3d print file for a gun part is seen by a microsoft employee? Such a file might be deemed "inappropriate" or "harmful" based on the views of the particular emplyee, despite the fact that that file is breaching no laws and has legitimate purpose (completely legal in the US on a federal level unless the gun you are making runs afoul of the NFA).

Right, but how is this even an issue since GitHub is for source code? What the heck else do people use it for? Enlighten me. Maybe I'm not understanding the bredth of things that it can include; more than likely.

Is microsloth going to take all the github servers and switch them to Winders NT?

Are they going to install more viruses and backdoors like they usually do?

AND!!! WTF! Why does Microsloth want to buy this?

LoL microsloth

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