They are upset that their code has been used in production without their consent. I'd say rightfully so.
Also note that the twitter post is from August 28 and the blog post that was written is from today (September 18)
So it seems that Al Jazeera was not that interested in resolving the issue.
The post does mention a DMCA request, that Al Jazeera also didn't respond to. Those are meant to be dealt with (at least with a reply) in a 24 - 72 hour timeframe.
Except: it seems unlikely to me that Al Jazeera English is hosted in the US, which would mean a DMCA request is not legally binding for them.
Except: it seems unlikely to me that Al Jazeera English is hosted in the US, which would mean a DMCA request is not legally binding for them.
Technically, and as a layman, I'd say a DMCA takedown would never be binding, because that's a provision intended for public online service providers like ISPs and website hosting platforms. Al Jazeera, as author and editor of their own site, does not qualify for the Safe Harbor protection, and can be sued outright by the aggrieved party, even if they did take down the article in response to the request.
BTW, what makes a DMCA request binding for a company: does it have to host its services in the US, or would it be sufficient that it has a legal entity in the US?
I can imagine that many companies could have an office and a legal entity in US while the actual service is run somewhere else, and I'd think that DMCA would still be enforceable towards the US legal entity.
Good question! I don't know the answer, but I did find a forum comment by a host with servers in the Netherlands, Bulgaria & Ukraine who say they comply with DMCA requests because they are also a registered business entity in the US:
The original blog post does say that scrollytelling sent a DMCA to AJ. But, that was probably handled with, "what link is that DMCA on?", "Oh we payed for that license, ignore it and tell de Volkskrant"
Also note that the twitter post is from August 28 and the blog post that was written is from today (September 18) So it seems that Al Jazeera was not that interested in resolving the issue.