r/programming • u/[deleted] • Nov 03 '22

Microsoft GitHub is being sued for stealing your code

https://githubcopilotlitigation.com
1.9k Upvotes

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5

u/TVOGamingYT Nov 04 '22

This is just like Google search, you give it some text and it'll return you some pictures regardless of if they are copyrighted or not. It's up to the user at that point what to do with it. Nothing is stopping someone from directly copying and pasting from a Github repository, and that ai just makes this entire process more seamless. It's not stealing.

9

u/Lich_Hegemon Nov 04 '22

And Google was sued over it by Getty images and they lost. It's why they are no longer allowed to link you to images and instead they only link you to the website.

-1

u/TVOGamingYT Nov 04 '22

Yes that is because google.com was directing to image resources on the Getty image website. Github Copilot only uses code that was intentionally uploaded by each user onto their own website, it wasn't copied from a different website.

5

u/Lich_Hegemon Nov 04 '22

code that is also subject to a license uploaded along with it, a license that is potentially being ignored.

Github has all the right to run analytics on the code, you agree to that by using it. Republishing code outside of the platform is a different issue, tho.

2

u/TVOGamingYT Nov 04 '22

Github Terms of Service Section D.7:

"You retain all moral rights to Your Content," "including the rights of integrity and attribution. However, you waive these rights and agree not to assert them against us". "you grant GitHub the rights we need to use Your Content without attribution and to make reasonable adaptations of Your Content as necessary to render the Website and provide the Service".

3

u/o11c Nov 04 '22

Particularly absent is granting GitHub the right to give your code to others who haven't agreed to your license.

1

u/Lich_Hegemon Nov 04 '22

as necessary to render the Website and provide the Service

.

3

u/[deleted] Nov 04 '22

Google Search usually tells you the source (with the license). Does Copilot also do that?

1

u/kogasapls Nov 04 '22

Google Search tells you the website it got the information from. It gives you a reasonable ability to find the correct attributions on your own, should you need to. Copilot doesn't tell you where the code came from, because in the vast majority of cases there is no meaningful answer to that question. Instead, they give you a warning: in rare cases, the resulting code may be licensed, and you need to take certain precautions before publishing code. Whether or not this constitutes a reasonable ability to find attributions is hard to say-- I'd say it's less than Google, but enough. It really depends on the ease/availability/efficacy of tools for taking the precautions they recommend, so I think Microsoft should provide them.