From: Michal Suchanek <hramrach@...>
Date: 2009-08-22T03:37:14+09:00
Subject: Re: Github and _why

2009/8/21 Robert Klemme <shortcutter@googlemail.com>:
> On 21.08.2009 19:05, Tony Arcieri wrote:
>>
>> On Fri, Aug 21, 2009 at 10:38 AM, John W Higgins <wishdev@gmail.com>
>> wrote:
>>
>>> Github nor anyone else has no business whatsoever touching one single
>>> byte
>>> of data that _why deleted from his account. This would be an absolutely
>>> ridiculous precedent to set and in complete violation of their privacy
>>> policy which clearly says Github has no rights to any data stored on
>>> their
>>> servers.
>>
>> Do concepts like open source and distributed source control escape you?
>>  It
>> may be that _why has moved on, but his source code will live on without
>> him.
>
> That's not the point.  John's point is - and I fully subscribe to it - that
> convenience arguments are not allowed to break contracts: /if/ the terms of
> operation of github (that everybody subscribes to) prohibit access to
> account data after it has been willfully deleted by the account owner then
> nobody must try to recover them only to prevent the inconvenience that the
> community needs to resort to forks or other copies of the material.
>
> If people fight for their freedom of information and mistrust Google for
> actually or allegedly abusing user data then it is a bad idea to call for
> violation of rules if it serves their convenience.
>
> It seems indeed that github's terms prevent access after account deletion:
>
> Cancellation and Termination
>
>   1. You are solely responsible for properly canceling your account. An
> email or phone request to cancel your account is not considered
> cancellation. You can cancel your account at any time by clicking on the
> Account link in the global navigation bar at the top of the screen. The
> Account screen provides a simple no questions asked cancellation link.
>
>   2. All of your Content will be immediately deleted from the Service upon
> cancellation. This information can not be recovered once your account is
> cancelled.
>
> http://github.com/site/terms
>
> Data Storage
>
> Logical Awesome uses third party vendors and hosting partners to provide the
> necessary hardware, software, networking, storage, and related technology
> required to run GitHub. Although Logical Awesome owns the code, databases,
> and all rights to the GitHub application, you retain all rights to your
> data.
>

Still if somebody has a branch of the project hosted on github the
repository of the deleted project is also a part of *their* project.

It is only a storage optimization to not clone the entire repository
each time a new fork/branch project is created.

To provide uninterrupted service to users who have such project on
github the repositories should not have been removed in the first
place.

Thanks

Michal