The US District Court for the Northern District of California ordered GitHub to disclose the identity of a user suspected of leaking Twitter source code earlier this year. Following Twitter’s filing of a lawsuit against the unidentified user, who is alleged to have violated the company’s secrets, the judge issued the order.
The stolen source code, which was published on GitHub, reportedly contained private details about Twitter’s security protocols and algorithmic framework. The company swiftly demanded that Github remove the code from its website by issuing a DMCA takedown notice. GitHub removed the code from its platform on the same day.
Twitter requested that GitHub provide information about the user’s identity, including their name, address, and IP address. The court also demanded GitHub identify users who “posted, uploaded, downloaded or modified the data.”
GitHub should identify a user who leaked Twitter source code online
The person who leaked the source code for Twitter is still unidentified. But the court’s order to GitHub indicates that they might soon be found out and made to answer for their actions. As businesses increasingly file lawsuits to defend their intellectual property, it also functions as a warning to others tempted to leak private information or trade secrets online.
Meanwhile, The New York Times suggests that the source code might have been leaked by a former employee. One who was impacted by Elon Musk’s layoffs. In the early days of taking over Twitter, Musk laid off thousands of employees. And one of them could be behind the source code leak.
It’s also interesting to know that the user who leaked the code bears the username of “FreeSpeech Enthusiast.” This is the nickname Elon Musk gave himself before buying Twitter. Based on the GitHub information, Twitter can determine if any of its former employees leaked the code and identify it quickly.
Elon Musk has recently valued Twitter at $20 billion, almost 50% less than the price he paid to buy it. However, the billionaire says Twitter could be “an inverse start-up” that is worth $250 billion.
2023-04-04 15:09:30