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Please remove mitsuhiko/*

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Re: Please remove mitsuhiko/*

#201

Post by jordanpg »

mpatch wrote: post #186
jordanpg wrote: post #107

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> then forbid it in the license Isn't this really all there is to say on this subject?

No. It's irrelevant and wrong. The third party site raising money in these projects' names is not using code from the projects to do so, it is only using the name. They are not bound by any license offered by the projects. Maybe the projects' authors can pursue some kind of action for that alone, but it has nothing to do with the terms under which the project is licensed.

Maybe licenses could be modified to cover the case of using the name? No idea what the legalities of this situation are, but if this problem is rampant, it seems at least plausible that the right legalese could help stem the tide.

Re: Please remove mitsuhiko/*

#202

Post by hack_edu »

arsenische wrote: post #197
keithpeter wrote: post #126

Earlier quoted context omitted.

soliciting contributions in UK. Moot point as to how someone else soliciting a contribution on your behalf without your permission is seen. I think that people who set Web services up really need to think about what territory the service is designed to operate in and which legal system(s) they have the time and resources to examine.

we are not collecting or soliciting a contribution on someone's behalf.

Could you add a few more words to explain your interpretations of those terms in practice here?

The rest of the folks in the thread and on the Github issue are exploring what those terms mean. I'm not seeing you provide much insight or rationale into your interpretations beyond a simple "No, we are not."

Re: Please remove mitsuhiko/*

#203

Post by chx »

brador wrote: post #94
iolsantr wrote: post #62

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If a project name was trademarked, you might be able to get them for trading on that name, maybe?

Can you trademark open source project names?

Hell yeah.

Drupal trademark policy http://drupal.com/trademark Apache trademark policy http://www.apache.org/foundation/marks/ Eclipse trademark policy https://www.eclipse.org/legal/logo_guidelines.php KDE® and the K Desktop Environment® logo are registered trademarks of KDE e.V. can't find the policy right now.

Re: Please remove mitsuhiko/*

#204

Post by bewaretheirs »

isgood12 wrote: post #185
bewaretheirs wrote: post #171

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In the US, if a payment is "available" to you, it must be reported as income at the time it becomes available. Failure to cash a paycheck doesn't mean you don't owe tax on it. See IRS publication 525, page 2, "constructively received income": http://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/p525.pdf There's some fuzziness and legal room here but the safe thing would be to declare it as income.

That makes absolutely no sense to me. If I get an offer from a bank that $200 is available to me if I open a checking account with them, then do I have to report it as income even if I don't open an account or perform any action to go after it?

The tip4commit payment is a tip paid because of work you did; elsewhere in IRS pub 525 and pub 531 it's clear (well, as clear as any IRS document ever is) that tips count as income.

the checking account offer isn't compensation for something you've already done. I think that makes it clearly distinguishable. But I'm not a lawyer; get competent legal advice before deciding you can pretend a tip-for-commit payment didn't happen.

Re: Please remove mitsuhiko/*

#205

Post by eof »

I'm really, really surprised and confused by what seems to be the overall sentiment here.

This tipping project was born of a hackathon combining cryptocurrency (cool) and supporting open source projects. Awesome!

Then when people started getting tipped tiny amounts it generated spam... annoying, but it was fixed.

It's a bit outrageous to claim that emailing someone after they have received free money (over some threshold) to invite them to accept it is going over the line.

Claims about taxes, etc.. are laughable. HOW DARE YOU GIVE ME FREE MONEY AND ALLOW ME TO DECLINE IT. Give me a break.

Overall the tone of alexanderz is extremely reasonable. It is not clear to me why the equivalent of a social-site invite being emailed on behalf of some user is suddenly worth getting angry and talking about international spam law. Especially when the exact same opt-out functionality exists. Click one button and never seen another email.. what's the deal here.

Re: Please remove mitsuhiko/*

#206

Post by williamcotton »

parasubvert wrote: post #191
jnbiche wrote: post #119

These kinds of episodes are making me increasingly depressed. On one hand, I'm incredibly disappointed in the ethics and morality of some of the people who have latched on to Bitcoin. And sadly, I'd have to include tip4commit in that group, particularly since they are "opt-out" and yet have been spamming people after each commit [ubernostrum points out below that they aren't even "opt-out", since they're not honoring…

"If Bitcoin does fail, a large part of the blame will be one the shoulders of so many software and IT people who make a flash decision that Bitcoin was "tulips" or a "ponzi scheme", and who refused to change their minds in the face of evidence otherwise " The same can be said for Bitcoin believers who, in the face tremendous of evidence otherwise (BTC volatility, pleas from respectable folks who study currency and ec…

Could you explain what you think is flawed about the implementation?

From a technological standpoint the incentives of mining and maintaining full network nodes have led to the first implementation of a public shared data store. Neither Bittorrent, Freenet, nor DHTs of any sort satisfy the conditions of being public, having equal access read and write privileges and data that is always available.

You can't have the benefits of the blockchain without the incentives that the units can operate as a currency and be traded for other things of value. That's what keeps everyone validating and making the data publicly available.

The politics are a completely different beast. The anarcho-capitalists and other anti-government proponents who have claimed Bitcoin as their own are living out a fantasy.

I don't think that Bitcoin is going to be the downfall of the nation-state. I think it's going to allow for some very interesting types of software to be made.

Please don't conflate Bitcoin as a technology with the mad ramblings of a bunch of basement dwellers.

Re: Please remove mitsuhiko/*

#207

Post by nols »

jnbiche wrote: post #155
Frankeh wrote: post #148

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>As just one example of what drew me to Bitcoin, Bitcoin holds (or used to hold) such tremendous promise for the developing world, and to people who are shut out of traditional banking. Vastly overstated benefits. http://letstalkbitcoin.com/blog/post/lets-talk-bitcoin-133-t... First 20 minutes goes into detail on how useful Bitcoin really is in the developing world. In short, if you've got access to a data plan and a…

As someone who has lived in a "developing" country, I disagree. I'm talking about potential here, not the current situation. And a lot of the early failures of Bitcoin in developing countries were the result of overzealous Bitcoin supporters rushing into a developing country with no prior experience, and then running into some of the inevitable problems (e.g., no reliable electricity). If it's going to work in these…

How would bitcoin be better than the mobile phone banking that is already quite popular in many developing countries?

Re: Please remove mitsuhiko/*

#208

Post by [deleted] »

jafaku wrote: post #189
JohnTHaller wrote: post #141

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> What percentage of these established corporations "accept" bitcoin through VC-funded startups, receiving dollars and never actually holding a bitcoin? Basically all of them. No established company wants the associated risk to actually hold bitcoin.

Overstock holds Bitcoin, and its CEO is a big fan of it.

[deleted]

Re: Please remove mitsuhiko/*

#209

Post by eof »

tg3 wrote: post #198
amalcon wrote: post #167

Earlier quoted context omitted.

OK, but nobody is arguing that Amazon.com's acceptance of the Argentine peso is a good sign for the future of the currency.

Widespread use of the Argentine peso isn't critical for its success (a strong economy and good monetary policy is). Widespread use is, however, critical for Bitcoin's success, since it relies on a network effect of merchants and consumers.

It certainly isn't bad news.. not to say ARS isn't likely doomed; but there are currencies not on that admittedly-long list of amazon accepted currencies.

Re: Please remove mitsuhiko/*

#210

Post by serf »

jordigh wrote: post #192
JohnTHaller wrote: post #140

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The only reason HNers are pulling out the DMCA is because another project is (unethically or not) using their names to raise funds in a way that they do not permit. That has nothing to do with bitcoin. Like it or not, the pseudonymous (not anonymous) nature of bitcoin will always attract a high level of illegal and unethical activity. Many people will then use those activities, stories, and experiences to paint bitco…

> The only reason HNers are pulling out the DMCA is because another project is (unethically or not) using their names to raise funds in a way that they do not permit. And what does that have to do with the digital millenium copyright act? Using a name without permission in a way that can confuse consumers is a trademark violation, not a copyright violation. It's horrible that the DMCA has turned into a generic weapon…

>It's horrible that the DMCA has turned into a generic weapon in legal online warfare.

agreed, and it sucks that the DMCAs most vocal 'anti-group' (techies) is resorting to such threats so quickly.

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