[Freedombox-discuss] Keep or Remove the "Anonymous Contribution" Page?
Jack Wilborn writes:
> IMHO, I say that if they want to keep copyright to their code, then we
> probably don't want it in the FB. My understanding is that we wanted
> a copyright free box, has this changed or have I misunderstood?
I think you missed something big there. As far as I know [0], that's
not a goal at all. Nobody's even asked me for a contributor agreement,
much less copyright assignment: we'll cross that bridge when we come to
it, I suppose.
> Then they want an anonymous copyright?...
The copyright's still valid from the moment the idea is affixed in a
permanent medium [1], though it'd be difficult to enforce your copyright
while remaining anonymous. You'd have to prove authorship of the work
and your claim without exposing your identity. Think of pen-names.
> I say pitch the whole thing and think it's nonsense to even think
> about too long.
>
> Can you give us good reason besides we could get a lot of usable code,
> for what price in the end?
The gains are, actually, probably more social than technological. I
expect there are folks who would like their work to remain uncredited
for a period of time, and I'd rather not turn away or discourage willing
contributors. More importantly, though, people are going to (already
have?) take risks in order to contribute to this project, and I'd rather
those folks know, ahead of time, what they're actually getting
themselves into.
Nick
0: As far as I know, that question has never come up so no "official"
position has been taken on the part of the Foundation itself. Of
course, there are definitely folks who've been reading the list for
longer than I have, so they'd probably know better. I've half a mind
to ask The Traveling Duck (duckduckgo) what it remembers, myself.
1: Or some similar legal mumbo-jumbo that basically means "as soon as
you write it down." Of course, I'm no lawyer, so my opinions are
illegal :)
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