OSDN Docs (English)

Seeing so much confusion and insecurity among the users caused by the incidents that were broken out in other companies proving similar services, we would like to explain our policy on malwares and adwares and ads that lead to irrelevant software downloads.

About Adwares

At OSDN, we have a policy of not making any modifications to any of the distributions developed by each project and continuing to archive open source products permanently. That means OSDN will never engage in actions such as bundling adwares to the project products and modifying the products of the dormant projects. Also, we will not terminate the project manager's right of the dormant projects.

We prohibit all projects from posting any contents that may affect the computer environment of the users and malwares that collect personal information inappropriately. But if we judge that an adware does not fit the characters of a malware, we allow projects to bundle the adware on their own. Example conditions are as follows:

• The revenue is contributing to the project management and the continuance of the development.
• Presenting no characteristic behavior of malware .
• Other version or source code that does not include adware is easily available.

This is a measure to support and help open-source projects that lack the means to generate revenues, contrary to their popularity. That said, thanks to the recent advancement of VCS environment, project fork is no more a difficult task, and if the backlash from the users gets greater than the advantage of gaining revenue, it is expected that the developers will refrain from excessive bundling.

About Inappropriate Misleading ads

Due to the fact that ads, like the ones with a misleading arrow icon, that falsely lead to inappropriate software downloads are causing unnecessary confusion among the users who visit to download softwares, OSDN focuses on the eradication of such ads. At the ad server, we keep a blacklist of domains which count up to a few hundred, and we also visually monitor for inappropriate ads. We have successfully blocked over 10,000 inappropriate ads which have passed through the filter in the past few months.

For More Returns To the Developers

At OSDN, we allow projects to freely insert ads on their own in the Web hosting area which is used freely by the projects. We try to provide an environment that will spur as much funds as possible to be routed to the developers.

We allow projects to release versions bundled with adwares, but that doesn't mean we consider it a favorable condition. It is a fact that there are many developers, although attracting many users, who struggle financially. With this in mind, OSDN is constantly searching for a better a funding mechanism.

Currently, we are considering to adopt a program which developers can directly profit from, without the need to depend on adwares that impose burden on software users. We have a plan to make some kind of an announcement during this quarter.

JP Original Announce