RE: [PHP] Genus who came up with "Self Destruct Code" & "Copy Pro tection"

I'm sorry, but this isn't just a problem with source code. It's a fact of life, I'm afraid. If you send a manuscript off to a publisher, they could take it and claim it as theirs, your word against theirs. If you take a digital photograph and send it off to a magazine, they can claim it as theirs, your word against theirs. You write a piece of music, someone else hears it and copies it and claims it as their own. What are you going to do? Open source is just the same, what's stopping anyone from claiming other's work is their own? Not much, people's honesty maybe. Not saying that encryption or whatever isn't good, I like it. You're perfectly right in saying that's what should be done here. But if someone wants to rip you off bad enough, they're going to do it no matter what. A written agreement is a cover your butt type of thing, it's a good thing to have in any case. It tips things greatly in your favor should it ever come to legal action. If you have a written agreement, signed by you and your client stating you're going to write a PHP script that does this and they'll pay you $X.XX an hour for the job, you submit invoices weekly detailing your work, keep logs of your work, keep beta code, keep logs of all contact with your client, then you give them the code and they don't pay you? Do you think a court would side with them? That's my point. Your point is well taken, though. Anything additionally that would aid in keeping your proprietary code confidential is great! Jason Soza ----- Original Message ----- From: "Vail, Warren" <Warren.Vail@schwab.com> Date: Tuesday, May 7, 2002 4:58 pm Subject: RE: [PHP] Genus who came up with "Self Destruct Code" & "Copy Pro tection" > I once overheard an attorney being asked by a young techie if the > attorneywould mind if the techie took a copy of his copyrighted > software for his > personal use. The attorney replied "No problem, I'll just disavow any > knowledge of how it came to be in your possession". > > Protecting your source with only an well written agreement, is > like trying > to saddle a sour horse after you've already let him out of the > barn. If > someone gets your source and edits it so that it no longer looks > like yours, > it becomes difficult for you to prove that it was yours in the > first place. > Letting him have an editable copy, with court as your only > recourse, will > not undo the damage that could have been prevented by making his copy > un-editable, before giving it to him. > > Warren Vail > Tools, Metrics & Quality Processes > (415) 667-7814 > Pager (877) 774-9891 > 215 Fremont 02-658 > > > -----Original Message----- > From: Jason Soza [mailto:solja@gci.net] > Sent: Tuesday, May 07, 2002 5:02 PM > To: php-general@lists.php.net > Subject: RE: [PHP] Genus who came up with "Self Destruct Code" & "Copy > Protection" > > > This was actually the point I was trying to make with my last > post. It > doesn't matter what you distribute, if you have a written > agreement in > place, they need to pay or you have legal grounds to sue them for > payment. If you have an agreement for them to purchase open source > code > from you, then you give them the code, they give you the money. If > they > don't give you the money, that's theft - akin to taking a car from > a > lot and not paying for it. > > Thanks for saying that more succinctly, Dave. > > Jason Soza > > ----- Original Message ----- > From: "David Freeman" <dfreeman@outbackqld.net.au> > Date: Tuesday, May 7, 2002 3:47 pm > Subject: RE: [PHP] Genus who came up with "Self Destruct Code" & > "Copy > Protection" > > > > > > Complain all you want about having to distribute source to > > > customers with PHP (the free version, that is), but if you > > > were willing to pay hard cash for an answer to your problem, > > > it seems to be available at http://www.zend.com/. > > > The > > > deployment software, on the surface, promises to protect > > > source code. Does anyone on this list have experience with > > > this tool? > > > > I'm not the one complaining. I'm comfortable writing php that I > hand> over to my clients. I have legally binding agreements in > place to > > dealwith non-payment etc. In the end I'm also comfortable with > > open source > > - if someone wants to take the code they paid me to write and do > > something else with it then that's entirely their choice and I > > wish them > > well. > > > > My point is that trying to implement self-destruct code and the > > like is > > implementing a technical solution to a non-technical problem. It's > > inappropriate. > > > > As you point out as well, if you're that uncomfortable with giving > > someone else your code then use the zend compiler and give them > > bitcodeinstead. It's your choice. > > > > CYA, Dave > > > > > > -- > > PHP General Mailing List (http://www.php.net/) > > To unsubscribe, visit: http://www.php.net/unsub.php > > > > > > > -- > PHP General Mailing List (http://www.php.net/) > To unsubscribe, visit: http://www.php.net/unsub.php > > -- > PHP General Mailing List (http://www.php.net/) > To unsubscribe, visit: http://www.php.net/unsub.php > >