On Thu, 27 Sep 2007, Jeff Spaleta wrote:
Here are the fundamental questions that I keep coming back to:
Is it ethically wrong for me as a Fedora packager to take an
existing spec file without an explicit license from another
location as the base for the spec file I plan to submit for
review? The pit of my stomach says no.
Your gut may need a check-up -- as noted in IRC to you several
days ago, CLA 5 includes the representation:
5. You represent that each of your Contributions is your
original creation (see section 7 for submissions on behalf of
others). You represent that your Contribution submission(s)
include complete details of any third-party license or other
restriction (including, but not limited to, related copyright,
patents and trademarks) of which you are personally aware and
which are associated with any part of your Contribution.
That is: No hidden direct or contributory Copyright ('related
copyright') infringements. Trimmed Changelogs leaving a
pointer (attribution) back to its prior source and making
forked content in software bearing a FOSS license -- fine, **
so long as there is attribution **; silent lifts, fileing off
all identifiers, and passing off code written by another as
one's own -- nope.
<include IA_AL disclaimer>
There is probably not a general formal statutory prohibition
against plagiarism, but I don't associate with theives and
chop shop operators. Here in Ohio, such behaviours would get
a person, say, tossed out of Uni, and stripped of any awarded
degree.
http://www.ohio.edu/outlook/media/BMIR.cfm
'There can never be a time or reason at an academic
institution, such as our Ohio University, when plagiarism can
be justified. Equally, there can not be any tolerance of the
individuals who participate in this serious misconduct.'
My 5 x great grandfather and his brothers settled the land
near, and provided the lumber for that school's first
buildings; two buildings at its branch campus' bear my family
name. I am proud to see OU's response to the challenge which
a discovered plagiarism brought. I am not perfect, and none
one human is; but I can strive toward it.
But maybe we do things differently, out here in 'fly over'
country than, say, at Princeton
-- Russ Herrold
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