Doing Open-Source Development, Anonymously?

An anonymous reader asks: "I have some free time, and I've recently started looking into some open-source projects that I'd like to start working on. (I'm a great fan of open-source. A package that I wrote four years ago, and which shall remain un-named, is probably running on you Linux system). But I have a problem: I strongly suspect that my after-hours work might be 'frowned upon' by my employer, and although I have no contractual commitment to abstain from such work, and I will not use office-computers or anything, I realize that in these times it might get me into trouble. So I figured I'll use an assumed identity. However, in order to release copyleft software, you have to first claim copyright to it, and this is not likely to legaly hold for an assumed identity. I don't want to release to the public-domain either. So what can I do?"

Comments

Use an assumed identity

[dh003i]

Just use a handle for the work, and always attach to it something that only YOU can decode (i.e., it's been gPGP'ed), so that if you ever want to prove you're the author, you can do so.

Post it to a geocities home page from a public terminal using a Yahoo login name you created from a public terminal. This way, its completely anonymous and there's no way it can be traced to you.

Copyrights still apply if the author is anonymous. Look at the many publishers in ages ago who published under a pseudoname. You may not be able to enforce you're copyleft if you want to remain anonymous, however.

But, I don't see how that matters. Lets say that you GPL a program which functions as a 3D rendering engine, but is just the core -- not the actual UI. Then some greedy company comes along and builds a user-friendly program around you're GPL'ed program, but releases it under a EULA. That EULA is automatically void, and anyone who gets that program can reverse engineer it to get the source, and may be on legal standing to demand that the company give them the source.

Alternatively, you can submit it anonymously to the FSF, then they'll enforce it for you.