A suggestion may match public code. What can your organization's policy do about it?
Why C is the answer
Block matching suggestions, or show them with information about the match
Depending on the policy, matches are blocked or shown with references, so that you can judge the license before using the code.
In detail
- A policy can block matching suggestions.
- It can also show them with information about the match.
- Choose the setting with your legal team.
Use case
An illustrative scenario, not a real incident.
A company worries about code that matches public repositories. Its policy blocks matching suggestions. Another organization shows them with references, so developers can judge the license.
See it in different ways
sequenceDiagram participant D as Developer participant C as Copilot client participant P as Proxy and filters participant M as Model D->>C: Prompt C->>P: Prompt plus context P->>M: Filtered request M-->>P: Response P-->>D: Filtered response
flowchart TD
Q{"What does the policy say?"}
Q -->|"Block"| A0["Matching suggestions are not shown"]
Q -->|"Allow"| A1["Shown with match information"]Key point: Policy decides what happens to public code matches.
Why the other options are wrong
- A. Nothing, because no suggestions from Copilot can ever match public code
- Suggestions can match public code, which is why the feature exists.
- B. Remove the matching code from every public repository on GitHub
- Copilot cannot change other people's repositories.
- D. Automatically buy a license from the owner of the matching repository
- It does not buy licenses.