Real Name For Open Source Development?

An anonymous reader writes "Do you contribute to open source projects under your real name or a nickname? The openness of open source can be encouraging, but software patents you have never heard of can become a nightmare if a patent troll sues for implementing 'their' scroll bar. A real name also means you end up in the big index we call search engines. An assumed name could be an additional layer of protection, but what are its pros and cons and is it worth the hassle when asked to participate in a meatspace meeting?"

probably overkill

An open source project is an unlikely target for a patent troll. Trolls by definition are not in business actually implementing the technology that is the subject of their patents, so your open source project doesn't hurt them directly. Unless you're making lots of money selling your open source software, there's not much they can hope to sue you for.

If you are looking to for personal liability protection then you should create a corporation under which you do all your software development, which might even include hobby or GPL work. This is probably overkill, but it may be a good idea if you think that there's any possibility of building a business around your hobby work in the future. In that case you might be able to claim some tax breaks for the cost of your computer, internet connection etc.

Hiding behind a pseudonym is only helpful in the case where you are doing something very illegal or commercially disruptive, in which case you need to do a lot more than just choose a handle, eg offshoring, money laundering etc. See online casinos, spammers, and porn sites for ideas...

Re:probably overkill

Simple. Use pseudonyms such as "John Smith" or "Robert Johnson" which are natural enough to be used in the meatspace and popular enough to be a needle in a haystack as far as Google Searches are concerned. This is a popular technique for restaraunt critics and the like whose reviews necessitate unbiased anonymity.

If you use hacker-ish sounding names like CapnCrunch or Dildog then you're asking for notoriety and your ass will be laughed at in a LUG.

Sadly enough, if anybody really wanted to track you down then they'd just throw money at a P.I. or at a buddy who works for your ISP.

Re:probably overkill

If you use hacker-ish sounding names like CapnCrunch or Dildog then you're asking for notoriety and your ass will be laughed at in a LUG.

Are you speaking from experience, Ethanol-Fueled?

Re:probably overkill

Are you speaking from experience, Ethanol-Fueled?

No, that's his real name. It stems from the ethanol fueled orgy that led to his conception ;)

Over KILL

Well, Hans Reiser used his real name....

Need I say more?

Re:Over KILL

but he was down with the whole stabbing people thing. I know, hindsight is 20/20, but I always tell my son, do try to have something worthwhile named after you, don't stab people.

I guess Hans Reiser got mixed up.

BTW, if you're wondering about my alias, well, I want something worthwhile named after me, and, well, you've seen my posts.

Re:probably overkill

Actually, no, if you're looking for personal liability protection, buy a personal liability insurance policy.

$2m in liability coverage is a couple hundred dollars a year. If you have any assets (and you'd have to in order to be concerned about liability), its an absolute no-brainer to buy an umbrella policy.

People are sue-happy these days.

Re:probably overkill

Actually, no, if you're looking for personal liability protection, buy a personal liability insurance policy.

$2m in liability coverage is a couple hundred dollars a year. If you have any assets (and you'd have to in order to be concerned about liability), its an absolute no-brainer to buy an umbrella policy.

People are sue-happy these days.

And the cost of a lost patent-infringement suit could easily top $2M. You should be looking for at least $10M cover, if you ask me.

Or, as the GP suggests, simply use a limited liability corporation, which will cost substantially less. You can form a company which will cost about $150 in the first year and about $50 per annum thereafter, and if it isn't trading commercially you won't need to hire an accountant etc (just read a few books on how to look after it). If anybody is stupid enough to sue it you just file paperwork to fold the business. Sure, they'll end up owning copyright to your work, but as you've probably GPL'd it, that's not particularly helpful for them...

Real Name!

you should always use your real name when publishing online!

Under my real name, for the most part

Right now the only project I actively contribute to is my own. Of course I have my real name on the project site and in the copyright headers. However, my username (on the site and the repository logs) is more of an online nick. The downside of this is that I get lots of e-mails and forum posts where people assume that nick is my real name.

Of course once I'm at the point where I care about liability protection, I'd rather form some sort of LLC to contain my efforts. I really do want to contribute in a way that people know its me, since what's the point of contributing to a project you can't personally claim credit for?

Blue Salad is not my real name.

As long as I sign my code as Blue Salad, they'll never guess I'm really "Green Salad." Muh haha

Another Con

I bothered to read every letter of a contract I signed with a company I once worked for and it had the peculiar verbage something to the effect of "... every idea or product developed by the employee during their employment at CompanyX is intellectual property of CompanyX." I got some clarification which resulted in the understanding that that particular phrase was left open so that if I went home and wrote an NLP engine from scratch while I was employed, it was their intellectual property. Let's just say at that time I needed the money and my foot in the door so I did take that temporary position.

From that early moment on, all contributions have been pretty darn anonymous. Remember, you're not just protecting yourself, you're protecting other OSS developers, other OSS companies and more importantly the users.

Re:Another Con

Actually, that's not "peculiar." Pretty much every employment contract will have a clause like that (more generous employers will just grab IP "related to your work," but read that broadly). And for the most part, it's enforceable.

There's also a problem with your anonymous contributions. The open source projects you donated code to are now tainted. If your employer decides to sue you for whatever reason, they'll ask in discovery for you to produce all IP you created while employed. Sure, you can lie and hide the stuff you did, and they may not find out. But if they do, you'll get sanctioned, and the judge will not be your friend after that. Bottom line, take those clauses seriously. If you're doing something unrelated and you really don't think your business is interested, get a signed release for your project. Or better yet, tell them up front that you work on unrelated open source projects, and ask them if they'll agree to a narrowly-crafted exclusion in the employment agreement. They may say yes.

I'm a lawyer, but this post isn't legal advice. Don't rely on it for any reason.

Re:Another Con

just because it won't stand up in court doesn't mean that you will have the funds to litigate it successfully...

Real, of course.

> Do you contribute to open source projects under your real name or a nickname?

Real, of course. Why would I want to hide?

> The openness of open source can be encouraging, but software patents you have never
> heard of can become a nightmare if a patent troll sues for implementing 'their' scroll
> bar.

As a pure unpaid contributor of source code you have no patent liability.

> A real name also means you end up in the big index we call search engines.

I've been using my real name on the Net for more than twenty years. I don't see the problem.

And to the answer...it probably doesn't matter

Either as a user or developer, if you have enough money/influence that the patent holder cares to sue you, it won't matter much if you post anonymously: your real name in all likelihood will be discovered in due course.

My nickname...

I've never had any problems submitting my code as Bill_Gates55, but RMS1953 can sometimes get me into trouble. Of course, nobody would believe me if I used my real name; Girls don't program.

Err on the side of caution

When in doubt, go the safe route where you have some degree of control over your personal information. I contribute to a few sites here and there, not to mention the few I run myself, and I write every single word under a pen name. There are a few reasons why I do this, mostly privacy issues related to avoiding unwarranted judgment/stigma from something I wrote. A pen name/alias/handle protects from this problem, but also has the added benefit of being able to 'reveal yourself' at a later date if you decide to forgo the privacy stuff.

That being said, I specifically choose to NOT assume an alias here on slashdot. I have my reasons for doing so, but they are of no consequence. The point is, you should think about your choice and the consequences of it. After weighing the information, if you are still on the fence, you should err on the side of caution and assume an alias.

Be careful with psuedonyms!

Ever since releasing my first open source OS back in '91, I've been using the pseudonym "Linus Torvalds", which I thought was a sufficiently ridiculous name that no one would ever confuse me for anyone else. Imagine my consternation when some joker from Finland started getting all of these awesome jobs and invited to speak at conferences and whatnot because everyone thought he was me! He's been milking it ever since.

For Employment Purposes

I never use my real name online, or at least as little as possible. The reason is I don't want future potential employers to be able to Google up any dirt - real or perceived - on me. If I want to bring some of my OSS work to a prospective employer's attention I can do that. I can also pretty much prove that I am responsible for this feature on that program, or that my contributions are legit.

Having you real name associated online with just about anything is IMO a bad idea. The risks are high and the benefits are almost nonexistent. The odds are 10-1 (I just pulled that number out of my ass) that dirt will outrank achievments if you use your real name and someone Googles for you. That one time you got drunk and went off on some insane rant 5 years ago WILL come back to haunt you no matter how many other positive things there are.

Two sides to this question

If you want to be protected by the patent terms of Open Source licenses, which for example was important in the JMRI case, you need to be properly identified. Otherwise, you may have a hard time proving to some judge that you should be protected because the plaintiff should have known that you were "Blue Salad".

Also, the project should make your identity known in the software package as copyright holder. Apache is terrible about this, they strip attribution from most stuff.

And I have a problem with anonomously-donated or anonymously-licensed Open Source, because how do you know the anonymous person actually had the right to donate and you won't run into trouble down the line.

Probably the best thing you can do is assign your copyright to an organization that keeps your identity private. Maybe FSF and some of the incorporated Open Source projects would do this.

Bruce

Either one is fine

In the open source community it really does seem that either one is fine. This isn't like the old days of D00DZ and WAREZ and C0DEZ where you used your handle to keep the feds from figuring out who you really were. Nowadays it's more of a tradition. Most people are going to be able to match your real name and your screen name, and that's fine. I do a lot of development using both, and people are generally cool with it.

That's strictly in the online sphere, though. If you're sitting in someone's office working out a consulting contract to build some open source software then yeah, your business card had better have your birth name on it if you want to be taken seriously.

Embed your real name in your fake

Contribute using the SHA1 hash of your real name as your anonymous nickname. If you ever want to be identified you can verify that it was you who made the contributions.

Re:Pffft...

I always use my real name. It doubles as a nickname, because people laugh when I tell them my mother named me wk2, but it's true.

Re:Pffft...

It's somewhat like clearing your throat and spitting. The whole naming thing was a misunderstanding, but that's what got written on the paperwork...