How does GitHub work?

[Mikey Z, Dr. Pixl]

I found a snippet on GitHub that I want to use. Can I? Are there any rules like Copyright?

To be honest I've never actually used GitHub before, I just found an HTML5 experiment I wanted to mimic, and found a link to a GitHub page. What actually is GitHub?

[bcnu]

The rules of copyright apply to any creative works of original authorship, including the rules that determine when the copyright expires in any particular country.