On Thu, Jun 25, 2009 at 11:24:29AM -0700, Russ Allbery wrote: > Giacomo Catenazzi <[email protected]> writes: > > A naive question: why does not FSF check identity of contributors? > > They must sign a copyright assignment (or disclaimer), send this > > document to FSF, but I see no identity check on FSF side. > > > > They do this for legal reasons! > > > > For FSF copyright assignment is more important than identity check. > > For us seems the contrary, but AFAIK FSF work closely with lawyer then > > us! > > This may appear counterintuitive, but I believe the FSF is at > significant less legal risk for the sorts of problems we're discussing > than Debian is. This is because the FSF doesn't distribute binaries and > doesn't provide automated updates to systems.
Even if this were true (which I doubt), I'm quite certain that whether or not you use your real name on a piece of software has any relevance whatsoever as to whether you're accountable and/or can be sued for what you did with said software. There is no reason other than "it's good form" why we would require a real name from contributors. -- The biometric identification system at the gates of the CIA headquarters works because there's a guard with a large gun making sure no one is trying to fool the system. http://www.schneier.com/blog/archives/2009/01/biometrics.html -- To UNSUBSCRIBE, email to [email protected] with a subject of "unsubscribe". Trouble? Contact [email protected]
