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

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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