My First Hire Experience - Freelancer published project code to a public GitHub account

[#1]

I have hired my first freelancer on upwork. A scraping project for an estate agents website.

The work was fairly poor, but seemed work. I had also given them a slightly wrong spec (wrong URL for sales not rentals), entirely my fault, but there was little appetite their side to help me get what I wanted after they had completed their deliverables. Even with the enticement of more money. As this was an experiment, I didn't argue with the freelancer and just paid.

By accident, a week later I have found that the code I thought I owned has been made public on his GitHub account. I had wanted this project to be under the radar. It made me think, what are my rights?

Also for future more commericially sensitive projects, how can I protect myself?

Intersted to hear others opinions.

Tom

[#2]

Hi Tom,

I'm sorry you had a negative experience with a freelancer you hired on Upwork. In general, Optional Service Contract Terms are used unless the client and freelancer agree on different terms, and they contain sections about work ownership. We'll also have our team member reach out to you to further address your concerns and assist you.

Thank you!