Rsync over ssh (pulling from Cygwin to Linux) stalls..

[Darryl Miles]

mwoehlke wrote:
> Darryl Miles wrote:
>> I do have questions, they may seem daft, but this issue is legal thing 
>> so the finer points are important:
> 
> IANALTYMSIEIAATS...
> My understanding is that if you place it in Public Domain, then anyone 
> can do anything with it and no one can stop this. IOW RedHat would be 
> safe because no one can prevent them from using Public Domain material 
> in any manner or fashion. Similarly, you have the same right; no one can 
> prevent *you* from doing anything at all with your work. The main issue, 
> of course, is that you lose any and all ability to control the use of 
> your work.
> 
> It sounds to me like what you want to do is release a GPL version of 
> your work. Again, my understanding is that this makes it 'still your 
> work' in that you can do anything you want with it, and also anyone else 
> can use it in any way that the GPL allows. I believe GPL release is 
> non-revokable, meaning you can't later change your mind (if not, I'm 
> sure GPL would have died by now), so this should protect anyone who uses 
> your work in compliance with GPL. But it sounds like this is inadequate? 
> (I haven't actually looked at RedHat's assignment form, so...)
> 
> Corrina, it would seem RedHat has an interest in this conversation... 
> are your lawyers available for comment? :-) I would think you could at 
> least make an internal inquiry if they would be willing to talk to Daryl.
> 

IANAL also.  In order to put something in the public domain someone must 
be able to initially stand up and say that is my work but I waiver by 
copyright entitlements to that work.  Thats how it becomes public 
domain, otherwise there is nothing to prove legally one piece of work is 
public domain material is not another persons copyrighted material.

I believe all copyrighted works that exceed their copyright covenant 
lifetime automatically fall into the public domain.  So putting 
something in the public domain just speeds up the process.



The beef is that I am forced to signed a legally binding agreement with 
a profit generating organization in order to contribute code for free. 
My understanding is that this legal binding agreement falls under US law 
which RedHat could enforce within a court of law.

Another concern (as citizen of the UK) is that from what I perceive of 
US law, is that those with the most money end up winning fringe civil 
court cases.  RedHat has more money than I and its motive is to generate 
profit.  So why would I want to sign anything giving title to a large 
corporation that is only accountable to its shareholders.  What do its 
shareholders care about open source (or me for that matter).


Then there is the case of "assignment of copyright" which I understand 
to mean that where my name would normally be added at the top of the 
piece of work is replaced with the RedHat and no public record within 
that work is retained that I was originally the copyright holder.  This 
sort of erases some tracks of the original claim in the public record, 
unless of course RedHat generate a legally binding confirmation receipt 
for each explicit contribution.  Something which would be presentable in 
a court of law later proving entitlement.

Sorry to sound completely anal about these matter, but I'm not the party 
  requesting a signed agreement in the first place.  The only reason to 
get a signed agreement is to enable the option of going to a court of 
law for judgment in the future.  Someone is taking the situation 
seriously so I have to as well.  The GPL backed by the FSF is good 
enough for me, if a FSF copyright assignment will cover this matter that 
would be an acceptable solution.

The FSF as a company and legal entity has motives more aligned with the 
sprint and context the contribution is made under.  It also has the 
finance and resources to fight legal cases with large corporations when 
it deems them necessary.


This isn't an attack at RedHat, cygwin developers or anyone, just an 
expression of a concern as I see it.  I also appreciate no party my have 
engineered the current situation deviously its just a result of how 
things turned out to be.

Darryl

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