Re: Github TOS effecting change to copylefts?
>>>>> On Wed, 8 Mar 2017, Mike Hommey wrote:
>> "That means you're giving us the right to do things like reproduce
>> your content [...]; modify it [...]"
> You're subtly omitting what the "modify it" applies to, though...
> the text reads: "modify it (so our server can do things like parse
> it into a search index)".
The question is if the parenthesis restricts the modification right,
or is merely an example. I see it as the latter.
> Now, let's go back in time a few weeks, before that ToS existed.
> What do you think github was doing with all the files there are in
> github repositories, to have the search function working? Has
> anything changed about that in the past 2 weeks? No.
Two weeks ago they have not asked me to grant them rights that I don't
have. And if they violated a file's license on their end then it was
not my problem, but theirs.
> Now, the question is: 2 weeks ago, was github legally allowed to do
> it? Whoever wrote that ToS thinks that was a rather gray area that
> needed clarification.
> So, if the new ToS doesn't allow you to put something on github, ask
> yourself this question: were you actually legally allowed to put it
> on github in the first place?
> (That said, I don't think parsing a document into a search index
> falls into "changing it is not allowed", which applies to
> distributing copies of the file ; although one could be anal about
> it and say that formatting it in HTML is distributing a modified
> copy)
Right, these things most likely don't require a modification right.
But then, why would they need clause D.4, in the first place?
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