That said,

> If you publish your source code in a public repository on GitHub, according to the Terms of Service, other users of GitHub have the right to view and fork your repository.

https://docs.github.com/en/github/creating-cloning-and-archi...

The actual term (D.5 from https://docs.github.com/en/github/site-policy/github-terms-o... )

> Any User-Generated Content you post publicly, including issues, comments, and contributions to other Users' repositories, may be viewed by others. By setting your repositories to be viewed publicly, you agree to allow others to view and "fork" your repositories (this means that others may make their own copies of Content from your repositories in repositories they control).

> If you set your pages and repositories to be viewed publicly, you grant each User of GitHub a nonexclusive, worldwide license to use, display, and perform Your Content through the GitHub Service and to reproduce Your Content solely on GitHub as permitted through GitHub's functionality (for example, through forking). You may grant further rights if you adopt a license. If you are uploading Content you did not create or own, you are responsible for ensuring that the Content you upload is licensed under terms that grant these permissions to other GitHub Users.

This allows you to browse and use the fork button to create a repository. It's unclear if the second paragraph is clarifying, or adding to the first term. If it's additive, then you might also have permission to host your own private repo off service.

Nowhere does it give you a license to _use_ the contents of the repository in your software. Nor does it allow you to publish the contents outside github - the first paragraph does not address publishing, and the second makes it clear that paragraph only applies "through Github's functionality".

> Nowhere does it give you a license to _use_ the contents of the repository in your software. Nor does it allow you to publish the contents outside github

To clarify, I did not mean to say that it does; I merely wanted to make people aware of the fact that some "default" restrictions are lifted when you publish on GitHub (just like when I type this comment on HN).

The idea that the Github terms of service negate "All rights reserved" in any public repository is a bold claim indeed.

You're granting GitHub the right to display your content to other users, and to make additional copies of it ("forks"). Those seem like reasonable rights to assign to Github when agreeing to their terms of service. I think it's completely clear that putting "all rights reserved" doesn't allow you to opt out of certain parts of the ToS, any more than the "I do not allow Facebook to use my content..." pseudo-legalese borderline-sovereign-citizen nonsense that goes viral every time Facebook change their privacy policy.