Have you researched the DMCA? It criminalizes not only direct and indirect copyright infringement, but also the dissemination of tools that circumvent copyright protection. This isn't a case of "knives are legal" this is a case of "PopCornTime is illegal" because it circumvents copyright protection. No amount of doublespeak is going to make the repositories legal, which is what I was getting at in the first paragraph of my first comment.
The language regarding takedown notices in the safe harbor provision is worded toward copyrighted material and not piracy tools, but GitHub really can't play dumb after this notice. They have been notified that they are hosting an illegal tool, and if they want to continue being considered an immune service provider under the safe harbor provision they will have to keep the repository disabled. If GitHub willingly reinstates a repository that they know is illegal they could lose their status as a protected service provider and then the MPA can sue them.
It's not abuse of a DMCA takedown notice to use it against tools that are intended to infringe on copyrights (specific copyrighted works are presumably detailed in Exhibit A of their notice that I couldn't find). The MPA isn't being dishonest and claiming that they own the code, they are claiming that the code is predominately intended for illegal purposes under the DMCA. It's creative, but not dishonest. This isn't someone spamming DMCA notices at some innocent coder, this is pretty much the system working as intended.
You're deeply confused. It's copy protection, not copyright protection, and Popcorn Time is incapable of circumventing it. It is not one of those illegal DRM-breaking tools. Tools for copying unprotected files are an entirely different thing.
> It criminalizes not only direct and indirect copyright infringement, but also the dissemination of tools that circumvent copyright protection.
The text of the law that you encourage us to read says:
> No person shall circumvent a technological measure that effectively controls access to a work protected under this title.
... followed by many exceptions. But that's section 1201, which is not referenced by section 512 that defines the takedown procedure.
> but GitHub really can't play dumb after this notice. They have been notified that they are hosting an illegal tool, and if they want to continue being considered an immune service provider under the safe harbor provision they will have to keep the repository disabled. If GitHub willingly reinstates a repository that they know is illegal they could lose their status as a protected service provider and then the MPA can sue them.
There's actually a provision in section 512 that protects GitHub should they choose to ignore what turns out to be an invalid takedown notice—they are legally considered to not be aware of infringement or infringing activity.
> It's not abuse of a DMCA takedown notice to use it against tools that are intended to infringe on copyrights
The takedown notice procedure is only specified for works that are an actual infringement. A tool for infringement is not the same as the product of an infringing action. There's no room for "creativity" here. The MPA does not own any exclusive rights regarding copying, distributing, modifying, etc. the pieces of software they object to, because that software is not a copy or derivative work of any of the movies they own copyright to.
The language regarding takedown notices in the safe harbor provision is worded toward copyrighted material and not piracy tools, but GitHub really can't play dumb after this notice. They have been notified that they are hosting an illegal tool, and if they want to continue being considered an immune service provider under the safe harbor provision they will have to keep the repository disabled. If GitHub willingly reinstates a repository that they know is illegal they could lose their status as a protected service provider and then the MPA can sue them.
It's not abuse of a DMCA takedown notice to use it against tools that are intended to infringe on copyrights (specific copyrighted works are presumably detailed in Exhibit A of their notice that I couldn't find). The MPA isn't being dishonest and claiming that they own the code, they are claiming that the code is predominately intended for illegal purposes under the DMCA. It's creative, but not dishonest. This isn't someone spamming DMCA notices at some innocent coder, this is pretty much the system working as intended.
Read the actual laws here: https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/17 And some decent summaries here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Digital_Millennium_Copyright_A... and here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Online_Copyright_Infringement_...