GitHub has reinstalled youtube-dl, a popular command line program used by YouTube download tools and similar applications. The code was removed last month after the Recording Industry Association of America complained that it violated the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA). After further investigating the complaint, GitHub has now determined that it is baseless as the youtube-dl program has "many legitimate purposes". These goals include research, accessibility, and integration with other applications. GitHub noted that its initial decision to remove the YouTube upload project was driven by a desire to be fully compliant with the law. However, the company is also committed to putting developers first. As such, the firm announced a number of changes to prevent similar issues from arising involving future legal challenges.
I fought the law
First, all copyright claims will now be subject to technical and legal scrutiny, with drafts put on hold if the results are inconclusive. GitHub is also creating a million dollar defense fund to protect developers against bogus lawsuits. Finally, GitHub announced that it will work hard to push for legal changes when it believes the law violates developers' rights. "No matter what we do to protect developers' rights, we must always work within the bounds of the law," said Abby Vollmer, director of platform policy and advisory at GitHub. “And the current limitations of the DMCA hurt developers. One way to solve DMCA problems is to work to improve the law itself and prevent even worse laws from being passed around the world. We have been successful in a multi-year effort to prevent the European Copyright Directive from imposing download filters for software development, and we are learning from this fight in the United States as the broader reform. of the DMCA begins to be discussed. "New digital technologies have long posed legal dilemmas, and the law often struggles to keep up with technological change. It appears that GitHub will now be better prepared for future contests in this area.