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Does having it on GitHub not inherently promote it as a sort of aggregator for stuff like it? Instead of having to search for a forum somewhere, they simply hav

by DrawTR 3y ago

Does having it on GitHub not inherently promote it as a sort of aggregator for stuff like it? Instead of having to search for a forum somewhere, they simply have to look at this cool GH topic, and there they now have ~40 options at their disposal

hnlmorg 3y ago
It was bloody easy to find this kind of stuff before GitHub. It will continue to be easy even after GitHub closes those repos. Source: I’m old and used to source this stuff for research purposes (genuinely) long before GitHub, and social media in general, was a thing.
- ForestCritter 3y ago
  abusive child porn is easy to find, we should have that on a fun easy entry level site like github...it's called a slippery slope, if no moral line is drawn, where do we end up?
  - chatmasta 3y ago
    Abusive child porn is a well defined content type that is objectively classifiable. For better or worse, so is copyrighted content (according to the rules of the DMCA claim process). "Harmful software" is a much blurrier line. Is a GitHub URL being used as a dropper in an active malware campaign? That will probably get a repository removed. Is the source code for malware published on GitHub? That's not harming anyone in its current form, just like the source code of Popcorn Time isn't pirating movies. Do you want to ban any content with a readme claiming it can be used maliciously? What if I want to publish a basic keylogger implementation for an open source cybersecurity class? Where's the line between educational content and cyberweapons? And even if it's a weapon, how do you know I don't have permission to install the keylogger on a system, like one belonging to a company paying me to pentest them?
  - hnlmorg 3y ago
    Every time I hear someone use the “slippery slope” argument, what they’re actually doing is making a strawman argument. I can assure you, script kiddy code on GitHub isn’t going to lead to people uploading kiddy porn on GitHub as well. The two are not in any way related, let alone one being a slippery slope for another.

by DrawTR 3y ago

hnlmorg 3y ago

It was bloody easy to find this kind of stuff before GitHub. It will continue to be easy even after GitHub closes those repos. Source: I’m old and used to source this stuff for research purposes (genuinely) long before GitHub, and social media in general, was a thing.

ForestCritter 3y ago
abusive child porn is easy to find, we should have that on a fun easy entry level site like github...it's called a slippery slope, if no moral line is drawn, where do we end up?
- chatmasta 3y ago
  Abusive child porn is a well defined content type that is objectively classifiable. For better or worse, so is copyrighted content (according to the rules of the DMCA claim process). "Harmful software" is a much blurrier line. Is a GitHub URL being used as a dropper in an active malware campaign? That will probably get a repository removed. Is the source code for malware published on GitHub? That's not harming anyone in its current form, just like the source code of Popcorn Time isn't pirating movies. Do you want to ban any content with a readme claiming it can be used maliciously? What if I want to publish a basic keylogger implementation for an open source cybersecurity class? Where's the line between educational content and cyberweapons? And even if it's a weapon, how do you know I don't have permission to install the keylogger on a system, like one belonging to a company paying me to pentest them?
- hnlmorg 3y ago
  Every time I hear someone use the “slippery slope” argument, what they’re actually doing is making a strawman argument. I can assure you, script kiddy code on GitHub isn’t going to lead to people uploading kiddy porn on GitHub as well. The two are not in any way related, let alone one being a slippery slope for another.