Re: [gentoo-project] call for agenda items -- council meeting 2019-04-14

[Chris Reffett]

On 4/9/2019 6:10 PM, Kristian Fiskerstrand wrote:
> On 4/10/19 12:05 AM, Michael Everitt wrote:
>> Not all cases are simply ones where a person does not wish to use their
>> full given name, there are perfectly decent arguments for using a pseudonym
>> when there could be mild or severe ramifications if their true identity was
>> in the public domain. I'm thinking as obvious examples of those involved in
>> security/penetration work, where it may be required, and not simply
>> desirable to keep ones primary identity confidential. Are we really so
>> draconian to eliminate these (often very well-skilled individuals) for
>> making a specialist contribution to Gentoo Linux?!
>
> The ultimate goal is to ensure that contributions are actually by the
> ones holding a valid copyright, or the contribution being of a license
> that is allowed under a license from the copyright holder. As mentioned
> in the link in prior post, GPL itself doesn't explicitly exclude the
> warranty of non-infridgement under UCC which can have severe legal
> consequences if a third party relies on the contribution, and as such
> puts Gentoo in a legal liability if we can't reasonably explain such
> contributions. As long as the copyright is valid and we can document it,
> it is fine, but as soon as things gets murky...
>

(Picking one thread to reply to, but this applies to the discussion as a 
whole)

Instead of arguing endlessly about the topic of pseudonyms as a bunch of 
non-experts, why don't we look into having the Foundation pay an 
intellectual property attorney for an opinion on the matter of 
pseudonymous copyright? That would at least get us a somewhat informed 
opinion on the matter.

-creffett

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