On Sep 26, 2019, at 8:06 PM, Hans Dembinski via Boost wrote:

Hi all,

I got a PR from a contributor who prefers to remain anonymous. The person created new files and instead of putting a real name, the person added just initials. I am talking to the person to see whether they can be convinced to give a real name.

Any advice on how to handle this? My feeling is that a copyright notice without a real name is illegal.

Maybe not. Surely, a copyrightable work with no copyright notice at all isn't illegal (and some messages to this list would qualify). As I see it, a copyright notice provides partial legal standing to sue for infringement, and also doubles as attribution. Your contributor clearly doesn't seek the latter, and couldn't pursue the former while remaining anonymous -- and the Boost license leaves little room for infringement anyway. An attribution notice also informs users who they might come to with complaints (which might be why I once saw a manual for an OEM device marked, verbatim, "Copyright 1996 This Company"). This isn't a problem here, since the maintainers aren't anonymous. The biggest issue I see is corporate Boost users concerned about the "provenance of the code" (as one Microsoft engineer put it). As a named individual, your reputation is at stake should you misrepresent your claim in what you contribute, so you're under pressure not to. But what stops an unnamed actor, and how do you verify? An anonymous gift, to the paranoid, could have come from anywhere, including a copyleft-licensed project known for pursuing violations. Personally, I wouldn't have a problem adding the code with a non-copyright attribution notice affirming the license to one of my own projects, but then again, I don't have Microsoft as a user. Josh P.S. I'm not a meta-lawyer, and I can't advise you on whether or not this constitutes legal advice.

Gesendet: Freitag, 27. September 2019 um 02:06 Uhr Von: "Hans Dembinski via Boost"

Any advice on how to handle this? My feeling is that a copyright notice without a real name is illegal.

Pretty sure that is not the case - at least not in the U.S. "Do I have to use my real name on the form? Can I use a stage name or a pen name? There is no legal requirement that the author be identified by his or her real name on the application form. For further information, see FL 101, Pseudonyms. If filing under a fictitious name, check the “Pseudonymous” box when giving information about the authors." https://www.copyright.gov/help/faq/faq-register.html https://www.copyright.gov/fls/fl101.pdf https://law.stackexchange.com/questions/10910/how-to-express-copyright-when-... Of course that doesn't invalidate the other concerns mentioned by Josh and Mateusz. Imho, at least the legal side should/could be clarified by boost steering / legal. Best Mike