Writing open source anonymously?

Post #32,977 by marlowe 3/21/02 9:00:46 AM Reply	Writing open source anonymously? I read about Ben's travails over on Slashdot, and it got me thinking. What if we want to write something for free public use, but don't want to get caught in messy legal traps? Suppose we just don't sign our names? I can see how this would be a problem with a restrictive license such as GPL. What happens if someone violates? If only the author has standing to sue (see previous thread) how can he sue without exposing his identity, and thus himself? Maybe it would be simpler just to put the code entirely into public domain, no restrictions on its use whatever, and let the chips fall where they may. If Microsoft can use the code, so can anyone else, so there's at least some equality there. And if anyone tries to patent it, there'll be plenty of evidence of prior art out there! And if anybody doesn't like it, who's he gonna harass? (Say, whatever happened to Brett Glass?) [link\|http://www.angelfire.com/ca3/marlowe/index.html\|http://www.angelfir...e/index.html] Truth is that which is the case. Accept no substitutes. If competence is considered "hubris" then may I and my country always be as "arrogant" as we can possibly manage.
Post #32,983 by drewk 3/21/02 10:30:51 AM Reply	Assign it to the EFF If corporations can have works without authors named specifically, so can an organization such as EFF. If you are simply listed as the maintainer, your employer could never obtain rights over it. So while you would get all the credit, the work would still be protected against going proprietary. === I can't be a Democrat because I like to spend the money I make. I can't be a Republican because I like to spend the money I make on drugs and whores.
Post #33,006 by marlowe 3/21/02 12:01:55 PM Reply	But could the employer retaliate? Remember, I'm skeptical of the notion of enlightened self interest. I fear the wrath of the PHB. If they don't know it's you, it won't be an unacknowledged factor in your next performance review. [link\|http://www.angelfire.com/ca3/marlowe/index.html\|http://www.angelfir...e/index.html] Truth is that which is the case. Accept no substitutes. If competence is considered "hubris" then may I and my country always be as "arrogant" as we can possibly manage.
Post #33,007 by drewk 3/21/02 12:15:22 PM Reply	By the time the lawyers are involved ... ... it's way beyond time to worry about your performance review. If the PHB would really retaliate for your contributions to OSS, he would do it regardless of the legality of it. So the only possible option is for him to not know about it. If you're writing something that is for both personal and work use, then you probably shouldn't be GPL-ing it anyway; BSD seems more appropriate. But even then, you would clearly be into the realm of things your employment contract rightly should cover. So it seems to me the best course[1] would be to assign license in the work to the EFF[2] on its first release, with yourself listed as project maintainer. You would receive just as much of the credit as if were licensed to you. The potential downside to this is that the exposure would not be to the code but to yourself personally. While the code would be protected, you would not be. Of course, you would then be facing the same situation as if you contributed to someone else's project, so I suspect it would be a much harder case for them to make. [1] Not that it helps Ben at this point. [2] Or other orgainization you trust. === I can't be a Democrat because I like to spend the money I make. I can't be a Republican because I like to spend the money I make on drugs and whores.
Post #32,985 by ben_tilly 3/21/02 10:49:39 AM Reply	IMHO that would be stupid It doesn't change the legitimacy of writing that work, and raises questions about your intent. ("Willful infringement" carries much stiffer penalties than just infringement.) Furthermore a body of open source work is taken by many companies to be a positive characteristic. That is far from all, but then again it is a filter for places that you would want to work at. Releasing that code anonymously loses that benefit. Cheers, Ben "... I couldn't see how anyone could be educated by this self-propagating system in which people pass exams, teach others to pass exams, but nobody knows anything." --Richard Feynman

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