Code hosting site GitHub says that a proposed new copyright law could stifle open source software development. At issue is Article 13 of the European Commission’s proposed Copyright Directive, which says service providers need to have ways to block copyrighted material from appearing on their platforms. The goal is to stop pirating of videos and music, but GitHub says it could have unintentional consequences for software development.
“Under this proposal code-hosting platforms will be compelled to prevent any possible copyright infringement by developing fundamentally flawed filtering technologies,” the company said in a blog post. “These filtering algorithms will ultimately decide what material software developers should be allowed to share.”
