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Ancient Slashdot reader ewhac writes: The maintainers of the Python package `chardet`, which attempts to automatically detect the character encoding of a string, announced the release of version 7 this week, claiming a speedup factor of 43x over version 6. In the release notes, the maintainers claim that version 7 is, "a ground-up, MIT-licensed rewrite of chardet." Problem: The putative "ground-up rewrite" is actually the result of running the existing copyrighted codebase and test suite through the Claude LLM. In so doing, the maintainers claim that v7 now represents a unique work of authorship, and therefore may be offered under a new license. Version 6 and earlier was licensed under the GNU Lesser General Public License (LGPL). Version 7 claims to be available under the MIT license. The maintainers appear to be claiming that, under the Oracle v. Google decision, which found that cloning public APIs is fair use, their v7 is a fair use re-implementation of the `chardet` public API. However, there is no evidence to suggest their re-write was under "clean room" conditions, which traditionally has shielded cloners from infringement suits. Further, the copyrightability of LLM output has yet to be settled. Recent court decisions seem to favor the view that LLM output is not copyrightable, as the output is not primarily the result of human creative expression -- the endeavor copyright is intended to protect. Spirited discussion has ensued in issue #327 on `chardet`s GitHub repo, raising the question: Can copyrighted source code be laundered through an LLM and come out the other end as a fresh work of authorship, eligible for a new copyright, copyright holder, and license terms? If this is found to be so, it would allow malicious interests to completely strip-mine the Open Source commons, and then sell it back to the users without the community seeing a single dime.

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When Romeo Beckham's current girlfriend Kim Turnbull and his ex Mia Regan ended up at the same bash on Thursday night, the event quickly gained an extra layer of intrigue.

President Donald Trump will attend the first dignified transfer ceremony for Iran war dead on Saturday.

He had allegedly slept on a mattress in a garage beside dogs at a property in Essex

Emanuel Shaleta was arrested just days after reports he was headed to Rome. The disgraced clergyman was accused of salacious behavior and pocketing up to $1 million of his church's money.

To the public, Kaye Adams is the whip-sharp, straight-talking broadcaster who is not afraid to speak her mind on-air and will brush off any backlash.

Isla Fisher looked stunning in a quirky pencil skirt as she joined chic Nicky Hilton at designer Nina Ricci's Paris Fashion Week show on Friday.

The Irish music manager, who worked with Boyzone and Westlife , was a judge on the ITV talent show from its inception in 2004 alongside Simone and Sharon.

The Daily Mail's TV critics have assembled a guide of the 19 best shows and films to stream this weekend.

Fintan Jack Feltham, 18, told his girlfriend Molly in the early hours of November 27 he had been in the town's Plush nightclub with friends when he was attacked and lost his glasses.

CNN's sole correspondent on the ground in Iran is facing backlash for his coverage inside the nation on day seven of the escalating war with the US and Israel.

Nightmarish scenes echo William Golding's Lord Of The Flies, the dystopian novel about British schoolboys stranded on a deserted island who descend into savagery without adult supervision.

Sharaz Ali, 40, who planned to 'wipe out a whole family' will never be released from prison for murdering his ex-girlfriend's sister and her three children.

Increases at the pump mean filling a typical 55-litre family car with petrol has become £2 more expensive, with a rise of about £3.30 for diesel vehicles.

Piers Brosnan has been spotted smouldering on set in a pair of sunglasses and slicked quiff - channelling his inner gangster for MobLand season two.

Expert gardener Liz Dobson and her former British Airways executive partner Andrew Pleming, both 60, had long tended the tiny parcel of land outside their detached home in Dorking, Surrey.

A NASA astronaut who completed nearly 3,000 orbits around Earth, discovering humanity has been 'living a lie.'

Open Road, which provides drug and alcohol support services across Essex and Medway, joined organisations around the world.

They took on the challenge of rowing 3,000 miles across the Atlantic ocean and successfully finished it.

Longtime Slashdot reader AmiMoJo shares a report from 404 Media: Privacy-focused email provider Proton Mail provided Swiss authorities with payment data that the FBI then used to determine who was allegedly behind an anonymous account affiliated with the Stop Cop City movement in Atlanta, according to a court record reviewed by 404 Media. The records provide insight into the sort of data that Proton Mail, which prides itself both on its end-to-end encryption and that it is only governed by Swiss privacy law, can and does provide to third parties. In this case, the Proton Mail account was affiliated with the Defend the Atlanta Forest (DTAF) group and Stop Cop City movement in Atlanta, which authorities were investigating for their connection to arson, vandalism and doxing. Broadly, members were protesting the building of a large police training center next to the Intrenchment Creek Park in Atlanta, and actions also included camping in the forest and lawsuits. Charges against more than 60 people have since been dropped.

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