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neox-libre/README.md

Hi, I’m @neox-libre. Usually people call me neox.

I'm only using this account to participate in project that only use Github to receive contributions.

I encourage you to leave Github for ethical alternatives instead. A good example is Codeberg, which promotes a fully free and decentralized service based on the Forgejo project, or GNU Savannah. You can also use a self-hosted Forgejo instance.

GitHub is quite often viewed as problematic in the libre software movement for several reasons:

  • GitHub itself is not free software and forces users to run non free software to accomplish basic tasks[1]. Its core infrastructure, backend, and many of its features are proprietary, meaning users do not have full control over the platform or access to modify it

  • GitHub is a centralized service[2], meaning that it represents a single point of control and failure. Centralization is a risk in the free software world, where decentralization is preferred to prevent vendor lock-in, data monopolies, and single-point censorship.

  • Since GitHub was acquired by Microsoft in 2018[3], some in the free software community have raised concerns due to Microsoft's historical opposition to free software in the past, despite its more recent embrace of "open source" practices.

  • GitHub has been criticized for collecting and tracking user data[4], which can be seen as a violation of privacy and autonomy, central values in the free software movement.

  • While GitHub is popular for hosting free software, the platform encourages the use of proprietary tools like GitHub Actions, Copilot, and other services.

  • GitHub Copilot, an AI-assisted coding tool, has raised serious concerns[6] about using free software code to train AI models without proper attribution or consent from original developers, which goes against the values of libre licensing and respect for contributors.

  • GitHub has complied with DMCA (Digital Millennium Copyright Act) takedown requests[7], which have sometimes led to the removal of repositories[8], even those related to reverse engineering or research. While this was sometimes legally mandated, projects were often taken down without due process or recourse[9]. For example, GitHub took down the popular youtube-dl project after a DMCA request from the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) and developpers had to argue for the repository to be reinstated.

  • There have been cases where GitHub has restricted access to users in certain countries due to sanctions[10], such as in Iran, Crimea, Syria, and North Korea. In these instances, users in affected regions faced limitations on their ability to use GitHub services, which led to criticism that GitHub's centralized control was being used to enforce political or geopolitical decisions, limiting global participation in projects.

  • Some developers have raised concerns about GitHub's compliance with certain governments' demands[11], particularly in the case of politically sensitive projects. GitHub has been used as a platform to host politically charged content, such as Chinese developers sharing documents related to censorship in China. In some cases, repositories or issues have been removed or restricted based on government requests, raising concerns about censorship driven by external political pressure.

For all these concerns that I happen to share, again, I encourage you to leave Github for ethical alternatives instead.

References:

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  1. neox-libre neox-libre Public

    Config files for my GitHub profile.

  2. xmpp.org xmpp.org Public

    Forked from xsf/xmpp.org

    xmpp.org website (builds: https://github.com/xsf/xmpp.org/actions)

    HTML