Contributor agreement

[David Ingamells]

Stefan Monnier wrote:
>>>>   * MAJOR ISSUE: This requirement is open to abuse, as anyone could
>>>>     send such an email with my name in it without my knowledge and it
>>>>     is easy to falsify sender's addresses in email as huge amounts of
>>>>     spam can prove.
>>>>         
>>> As Karl(?) mentioned, if a miscreant forges mail purporting to be from
>>> you, you obviously are not accountable for what they say.
>>>       
>
>   
>> No, but Canonical won't pay my legal fees, court costs, and any
>> incidental costs of proving I sent no such mail.  And I personally
>> would have great difficulty proving that, since I don't habitually
>> sign my email.
>>     
>
> But this issue exists regardless of whether you ever get even close to
> signing such an agreement.  It could happen even if you've never heard
> of this agreement and its clauses.
>
> So if there is a problem, it's in the legal system, which should
> hopefully lay the burden on Canonical to show that they really did get
> a valid agreement from you, rather than lay the burden on you to show
> that you did not sign any such agreement.
>
>
>         Stefan
>
>
>
>   
This issue seems to have escalated from my initial remark.
I agree that the present legal system is at fault and is often very 
unfair - lack of a robust defence can be seen to admittance of guilt - 
but it is this legal system that can cause us great pain, and it is this 
same legal system that such an agreement works within.

May I suggest that, just with other places where one is requested to 
sign up for something (e.g. a forum), that an email to the sender's 
email address requesting a confirmation (by following a link) would go a 
long way towards verifying that the initial email was from the right 
person. The technology exists, is well known and does not impose any 
real burden on the contributor.

Greetings,
David.

-- 

* David Ingamells  *      Test Architect    *     Mapscape *

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Phone +31 (0)40 7113571  |  Fax +31 (0)40 7113599

www.mapscape.eu <http://www.mapscape.eu/>

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