Google Code’s download option deprecated due to misuse, only existing project downloads to be kept after January 15

Posted by : Brij Bhushan Wednesday, 22 May 2013

Google on Wednesday announced it is deprecating almost all download options for Project Hosting on Google Code. The company is blaming “increasing misuse” for the move.

This is not a complete deprecation, and Google has a timeline that is worth laying out:

As of May 22, 2013 (today), existing projects that do not have any downloads and all new projects have lost the ability to create downloads.

On January 15, 2014, existing projects with downloads will lose the ability to create new downloads.

All existing downloads in existing projects will continue to be accessible for the foreseeable future.

You might be wondering what misuse exactly forced Google to make this move. The company wouldn’t say anything beyond that downloads “have become a source of abuse with a significant increase in incidents recently” and that it has a “desire to keep our community safe and secure.”

It’s not clear if this download feature was being used to spread pornography, pirated content, malware, or some other type of content Google deems abusive. Either way, the company apparently decided it would rather kill the feature than continue to fight the abusers.

More to follow.