Re:I built a free open-source Mac app and got DMCA'd for usi...
by soulsniper on Thursday April 02, 2026 @04:16PM
(#47619612)
Last week a Mac app called Avalw Shield launched charging $499 lifetime to auto-lock your screen when you walk away using face detection. The comments were brutal about the pricing so I built FaceGuard over a weekend — same core feature, free, MIT licensed.
They filed a DMCA takedown against my repo. Their claim is that I infringed by using:
- AVCaptureSession (Apple's camera framework)
- VNDetectFaceRectanglesRequest (Apple's Vision framework)
- CGSession -suspend (20 year old system call)
- SMAppService (Apple's login item framework)
Every single item is a public Apple API documented at developer.apple.com. There is no proprietary code to copy. The only way to build this feature on macOS is to use these exact frameworks.
I'm 15. I wrote every line myself. Filing a counter notice today.
Repo is temporarily down due to the takedown. Will be back up after counter-notice resolves.
Re:I built a free open-source Mac app and got DMCA'd for usi...
by RugZug on Thursday April 02, 2026 @11:59PM
(#47623048)
Hosting libre software on proprietary git forges will always result in those owning the forge doing something bad to its users and their code, sooner or later.
They filed a DMCA takedown against my repo. Their claim is that I infringed by using:
- AVCaptureSession (Apple's camera framework) - VNDetectFaceRectanglesRequest (Apple's Vision framework) - CGSession -suspend (20 year old system call) - SMAppService (Apple's login item framework)
Every single item is a public Apple API documented at developer.apple.com. There is no proprietary code to copy. The only way to build this feature on macOS is to use these exact frameworks.
I'm 15. I wrote every line myself. Filing a counter notice today.
Repo is temporarily down due to the takedown. Will be back up after counter-notice resolves.
If it’s regarding Apple’s IP and the claim isn’t from Apple that’s a false claim, the verbiage might be misrepresentation.
https://www.gnu.org/proprietary/proprietary.html
The best option is to selfhost. Something like Radicle is a good option. Forgejo is another.