ietf-asrg
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RE: [Asrg] ASRG IPR policy (was RE: US Spam patents: Partial list )

2003-06-14 21:42:37
At 9:39 PM -0400 6/13/03, Paul Judge wrote:
Is there a particular sentence that is unclear to you? The text is directly
from RFC 2026.

"By submission of a contribution, each person actually submitting the
   contribution is deemed to agree to the following terms and conditions
   on his own behalf, on behalf of the organization (if any) he
   represents and on behalf of the owners of any propriety rights in the
   contribution..  Where a submission identifies contributors in
   addition to the contributor(s) who provide the actual submission, the
   actual submitter(s) represent that each other named contributor was
   made aware of and agreed to accept the same terms and conditions on
   his own behalf, on behalf of any organization he may represent and
   any known owner of any proprietary rights in the contribution.

Well, part of the problem is that there are only two sentences, but there are about half a dozen sub clauses.

I think I understand the first sentence, but it raises more issues than it helps. What does "represents" mean? Does that mean I need to stick a clause in every suggestion I make, stating that this is not an official statement from my organization? But anyway, the first sentence simply seems to say that by the acting of contributing a (something, not clear what) I'm agreeing to the following terms, and I'm agreeing to them for everyone who I might possibly represent. The more I think about that, the more I find it unacceptable. Agreement should be explicit, not implicit. (Sounds like we're defining spam here :-).

The second sentence is the one that lost me. After reading it several times I think it means.

        The submitter promises that everyone with ownership of the
        contribution has been aware of, and agrees to, these terms.

Now that I understand that, I don't find it acceptable either.

You need to define "contribution". Are we talking a formal contribution made to the ASRG as in "here is my document, documenting what I think we ought to do"? Or are we talking about the bunch of us bouncing around ideas and making suggestions. Because if it's the latter, then I think there are a number of people on this list who are going to have to pull out.
--
Kee Hinckley
http://www.messagefire.com/          Anti-Spam Service for your POP Account
http://commons.somewhere.com/buzz/   Writings on Technology and Society

I'm not sure which upsets me more: that people are so unwilling to accept
responsibility for their own actions, or that they are so eager to regulate
everyone else's.
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