{"id":81771,"date":"2025-02-23T09:00:41","date_gmt":"2025-02-23T09:00:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.cryptocabaret.com\/?p=81771"},"modified":"2025-02-23T09:00:41","modified_gmt":"2025-02-23T09:00:41","slug":"dmca-notices-took-down-31151-github-projects-last-year","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.cryptocabaret.com\/?p=81771","title":{"rendered":"DMCA Notices Took Down 31,151 GitHub Projects Last Year"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><img fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.cryptocabaret.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/github-logo-dark.jpg\" alt=\"github logo dark\" width=\"300\" height=\"198\" class=\"alignright size-full wp-image-211032\"><a href=\"https:\/\/github.com\/\">GitHub<\/a>, home to hundreds of millions of code repositories, takes pride in being the largest and most advanced development platform in the world.<\/p>\n<p>Like other platforms that host user-generated content, this massive code library occasionally runs into copyright infringement issues.<\/p>\n<h2>Pirate Troubles<\/h2>\n<p>One of the \u2018pirate\u2019 issues GitHub faces is a constant stream of <a href=\"https:\/\/torrentfreak.com\/scammers-exploited-official-eu-website-for-piracy-scams-250212\/\">scammy<\/a> pirate advertisements posted to the site. These ads typically promise free access to the latest movies but, in reality, lure users into handing over credit card details or other personal information.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n<p><center><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.cryptocabaret.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/gitscam.jpg\" alt=\"github scam\" width=\"500\" height=\"357\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-264244\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.cryptocabaret.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/gitscam.jpg 1051w, https:\/\/torrentfreak.com\/images\/gitscam-300x214.jpg 300w, https:\/\/torrentfreak.com\/images\/gitscam-600x428.jpg 600w, https:\/\/torrentfreak.com\/images\/gitscam-150x107.jpg 150w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 500px) 100vw, 500px\"><\/center><\/p>\n<p>GitHub typically catches this type of spam before rightsholders notice, as no DMCA notice has yet mentioned them. Instead, rightsholders are more focused on developers whose projects are flagged for copied code or identified as pirate tools.<\/p>\n<p>A few high-profile takedowns have grabbed headlines over the years, including the <a href=\"https:\/\/torrentfreak.com\/github-reinstates-youtube-dl-and-puts-1m-in-takedown-defense-fund-201116\/\">RIAA\u2019s takedown of YouTube-DL<\/a>, which was later reversed. <\/p>\n<p>Other rightsholders were more successful, with GitHub removing a variety of piracy apps last year. Nintendo wass particularly active, wiping hundreds of repositories and forks, including the <a href=\"https:\/\/torrentfreak.com\/nintendo-takedown-wipes-rhythm-heaven-remix-tool-and-250-forks-from-github-240619\/\">Rhythm Heaven<\/a> remix tool, and <a href=\"https:\/\/torrentfreak.com\/nintendo-targets-switch-emulators-suyu-nuzu-uzuy-torzu-and-sudachi-240710\/\">Switch emulators<\/a> including Suyu, Nuzu, Uzuy, Torzu, and Sudachi.<\/p>\n<p>Also notable is the removal of several IPTV playlists by numerous rightsholders, as well as the removal of dedicated IPTV streaming apps such as <a href=\"https:\/\/torrentfreak.com\/sky-italia-targets-pirate-streaming-app-vancedflix-through-github-2400123\/\">VancedFlix<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/torrentfreak.com\/amazons-indian-branch-targets-pirate-streaming-apps-hosted-on-github-241103\/\">PikaShow, Castle and FlixFox<\/a>.<\/p>\n<h2>31,151 Removed Repos<\/h2>\n<p>This week, GitHub updated its <a href=\"https:\/\/transparencycenter.github.com\/dmca\/\">transparency report<\/a> with the latest data, revealing the total number of notices received and projects affected. The report shows that the platform processed more than 2,000 takedown notices in 2024, which affected 31,151 repositories. <\/p>\n<p>Of all notices received, just 41 were contested or retracted, and a total of 103 repositories remained online as a result. <\/p>\n<p>The number of processed takedowns and retractions was similar to the previous year. There was a significant increase in the number of repositories removed, but that can likely be attributed to a handful of complaints against projects with many forks.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n<p><center><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.cryptocabaret.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/github-dmca-1.jpg\" alt=\"github dmca\" width=\"600\" height=\"469\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-264245\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.cryptocabaret.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/github-dmca-1.jpg 1313w, https:\/\/torrentfreak.com\/images\/github-dmca-1-300x234.jpg 300w, https:\/\/torrentfreak.com\/images\/github-dmca-1-600x469.jpg 600w, https:\/\/torrentfreak.com\/images\/github-dmca-1-150x117.jpg 150w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 600px) 100vw, 600px\"><\/center><\/p>\n<p>GitHub says that it will continue to take a developer-first approach to content moderation, minimizing the disruption of software projects while protecting developer privacy. These transparency reports and the publicly posted takedown notices are a means to that end.<\/p>\n<h2>Circumvention Claims<\/h2>\n<p>In addition to all DMCA takedown notices, GitHub specifically breaks down notices containing circumvention claims. These continued to rise, with 465 requests last year. <\/p>\n<\/p>\n<p><center><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.cryptocabaret.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/curcumvention.jpg\" alt=\"circumvention\" width=\"600\" height=\"387\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-264249\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.cryptocabaret.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/curcumvention.jpg 1424w, https:\/\/torrentfreak.com\/images\/curcumvention-300x193.jpg 300w, https:\/\/torrentfreak.com\/images\/curcumvention-600x387.jpg 600w, https:\/\/torrentfreak.com\/images\/curcumvention-150x97.jpg 150w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 600px) 100vw, 600px\"><\/center><\/p>\n<p>Processing circumvention notices is quite costly for the company as all requests are heavily scrutinized by in-house experts. This was in part triggered by the youtube-dl takedown saga, after which GitHub launched a million-dollar <a href=\"https:\/\/torrentfreak.com\/github-reinstates-youtube-dl-and-puts-1m-in-takedown-defense-fund-201116\/\">Developer Defense Fund<\/a> for affected users.<\/p>\n<p>When a circumvention complaint moves forward, GitHub always reaches out to developers before taking any action. This allows developers to address any issues, without taking their entire project offline. <\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhere our experts determine that a claim is complete, legal, and technically legitimate, we will contact the repository owner and give them a chance to respond to the claim or make changes to the repo to avoid a takedown,\u201d the company writes in its <a href=\"https:\/\/docs.github.com\/en\/site-policy\/content-removal-policies\/dmca-takedown-policy#c-what-about-circumvention-claims\">takedown policy<\/a>. <\/p>\n<p>All in all, it\u2019s good to see that GitHub remains committed to takedown transparency, and we will keep monitoring these and other trends going forward.<\/p>\n<p>From: <a href=\"https:\/\/torrentfreak.com\/\">TF<\/a>, for the latest news on copyright battles, piracy and more.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wpematico_credit\"><small>Powered by <a href=\"http:\/\/www.wpematico.com\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">WPeMatico<\/a><\/small><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>GitHub, home to hundreds of millions of code repositories, takes pride in being the largest and most advanced development platform in the world. Like other platforms that host user-generated content, this massive code library occasionally runs into copyright infringement issues. Pirate Troubles One of the \u2018pirate\u2019 issues GitHub faces is a constant stream of scammy [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":81772,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[308],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-81771","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-torrent"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cryptocabaret.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/81771","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cryptocabaret.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cryptocabaret.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cryptocabaret.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cryptocabaret.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=81771"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.cryptocabaret.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/81771\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cryptocabaret.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/81772"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cryptocabaret.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=81771"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cryptocabaret.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=81771"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cryptocabaret.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=81771"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}