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Insuring Contributed Code is Legal?
WanderingGhost asks: "Suppose you start a free software project and have people from all over the world wanting to contribute (hey, that's good eh?) How can you tell if they actually have the right to contribute at all? Contributors may live in different countries and work for different companies, and that means different laws and different contractual agreements. Aside from asking the person (I've found that this doesn't always work), what else would you do? Is there some place where you can find all information about IP laws of different countries (for example Japan, India, China, Russia) just so you can tell what would be the 'default holder of copyright' if a work contract says nothing about IP rights?"
The only thing you know for sure is that you never know anything for sure.
Please correct me if I got my facts wrong.
In actual usage, they are quite different. "insure" means that somebody will pay money if something goes wrong. "ensure" means checking to make sure it's correct in the first place. The headline reads very differently, and I was confused as to why you would want to buy an insurance policy for contributed code, and why it would not be legal to do so if you really wanted to.
Here's what happens when you insure stuff:
Well I'm a sucker for fine Cuban cigars
The problem is I can't afford 'em
But last year I went and got myself a whole box
And just to be safe I insured 'em
I took out a policy against fire and theft
And then I hurried home
With a thirty-cent lighter I sat on my back steps
And I smoked 'em one by one
Two weeks later I went to see that insurance man
And I handed in my claim
With a straight face I told him that through a series of small fires
They'd all gone up in flames
They reviewed my case and they had no choice
But to pay me for what I'd done
And I took that check and bought a whole new box
And I smoked 'em one by one
Two weeks later this detective shows up
Tells me that company's pressin' charges
One speedy trial later they locked me up
On twenty-four separate counts of arson
And now I sit and I stare at a blank brick wall
Lookin' back on what I've done
To pass the time I've got some ten-cent cigars
And I smoke 'em one by one
Yeah, I smoke 'em one by one
(Brad Paisley, "The Cigar Song")
Now, if he had ensured that they wouldn't burn, rather than insuring that they wouldn't burn, he wouldn't be in jail. See? Big difference!
Procrastination -- because good things come to those who wait.
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