On 16 May 2025, I received a GitHub notification stating that I had been added to the organization “Human-Centered AI Lab (Holzinger, Müller Group)”. At the time of the incident, the organization was publicly associated with Prof. Andreas Holzinger https://www.aholzinger.at/.
Because I had previously left that group, I was concerned and contacted GitHub Support for clarification. After reviewing their logs, GitHub informed me that there had been no new invitation to, or acceptance of, membership in the organization in 2025.
According to GitHub, the account membership originated from an invitation accepted in 2019, and the only recorded activity in May 2025 was my own removal from the organization.
GitHub further indicated that the matter would be forwarded internally for investigation
regarding why the notification appeared at that time. To my knowledge, no further explanation regarding the cause of the notification has been provided to me.
One aspect that particularly concerned me was that some of the unsolicited registrations appeared to associate my name or email address with external academic or professional activities that I had not initiated myself.
This was not merely an issue of unwanted communications. As an employee, I am subject to contractual obligations regarding outside professional activities. Any appearance that I had voluntarily registered for external editorial, publishing, conference, or commercial activities without my knowledge could potentially have created misunderstandings regarding those obligations.
My employment contract permits voluntary, unpaid professional activities, provided that they are conducted transparently and, where appropriate, proactively communicated to my employer. For that reason, maintaining accurate records of my professional affiliations and registrations is important to me.
This is one of the reasons why I sought clarification whenever I discovered registrations or memberships that I did not remember initiating. My objective was not only to understand how my personal data had been processed, but also to ensure that my publicly visible professional activities accurately reflected my own decisions.
I am grateful to work in an environment where openness and transparency are encouraged, and where voluntary external activities can be discussed proactively. Precisely because I value that relationship of trust, I consider it important that any professional registrations or affiliations associated with my name genuinely reflect my own choices.