Re: [gentoo-project] [RFC] GLEP 76: Copyright Policy [v4]

[Kent Fredric]

On Thu, 27 Sep 2018 10:13:30 -0400
Rich Freeman <rich0@g.o> wrote:

> I think there are other arguments to be made against anonymity.

Pseudonymity is hardly anything like anonymity.

Creating a pseudonym requires much work, and its a constructed
"persona" that is a public representation of your natural person.

Just like a real person, a pseudonym requires establishing networks of
trust between peers.

And you don't need to know my physical identity in order for me to
prove, when you meet me, that my physical identity is the owner of the
pseudonym.

If pseudonymity is forbidden, significant contributors of opensource
projects would have to cease existing, among, but not limited to:

 _why of Ruby ( who disappeared entirely from opensource when people
 started leaking his true name )

 Chromatic ( The author of the Modern Perl book, who has respectable
 involvement in both Perl5 and Perl6 )

Its all good to talk about "openness", but forbidding pseudonymity on
this basis is nearly forbidding privacy, because you're tempting that
whole "why do you need privacy if you've got nothing to hide" mentality.

Lets say for example you have a job, and your employer is a dick who
doesn't understand how software works, and will make your life unduely
miserable if they find you out in the real world contributing to
opensource in your free time, despite having no legal right to
persecute you as such.

You're not doing anything untoward, but your employer's braindead
mentality conspires with this policies braindead mentality to forbid
you from contributing for no good reason.

Your options become "quit your job" or "quit contributing".

And you're not actually achieving any real "openness" as a result of
this insanity, you're just making the lives of people who have
legitimate grounds for pseudonymity, harder.

And have people forgotten 'doxxing' is a thing? And in some cases
having your real identity out there in the real world simply serves as
a vector for undue harassment? Even if everything you do is above
board, that doesn't stop busy-bodies deciding you're conflicting with
their distorted sense of morality and using that as grounds to
persecute you.

Say for example you present opinions in favour of something that is not
politically popular where you live ( say you're a gay rights activist,
but live in russia ). You're known by the same pseudonym all over
opensource, but your real name is not published.

And then, this policy comes around, and you have a choice: either keep
using a pseudonym, or tempt associating that pseudonym with your real
self, which potentially invites significant negative social
consequences.

I don't think these sorts of "expose yourself to the elements for all
to attack" behaviours are something Gentoo should be encouraging under
the banner of openness.