My argument is that employees are responsible for reading the contract, and if the contract have terms that might be problematic for open source contribution, t

My argument is that employees are responsible for reading the contract, and if the contract have terms that might be problematic for open source contribution, the employee is responsible for finding out ahead of time what the policy is. (For Google, the policy is publically available[1], so it can be read by people who aren't yet employees.) If the policy is not acceptable to you, then you shouldn't work for that company. [1] https://opensource.google/docs/ https://opensource.google/docs/ And if the policy changes --- such as for example, when Oracle suddenly changed the rules about Open Solaris, the solution is simple. You quit. Large portions of the core Solaris team left, soon after Oracle changed the rules. Bryan Cantrill left Oracle, and he's done fine for himself. He's even made talks explaining what happened when Oracle screwed over Open Solaris: "As you know people, as you learn about things, you realize that these generalizations we have are, virtually to a generalization, false. Well, except for this one, as it turns out. What you think of Oracle, is even truer than you think it is. There has been no entity in human history with less complexity or nuance to it than Oracle. And I gotta say, as someone who has seen that complexity for my entire life, it's very hard to get used to that idea. It's like, 'surely this is more complicated!' but it's like: Wow, this is really simple! This company is very straightforward, in its defense. This company is about one man, his alter-ego, and what he wants to inflict upon humanity -- that's it! ...Ship mediocrity, inflict misery, lie our asses off, screw our customers, and make a whole shitload of money. Yeah... you talk to Oracle, it's like, 'no, we don't fucking make dreams happen -- we make money!' ...You need to think of Larry Ellison the way you think of a lawnmower. You don't anthropomorphize your lawnmower, the lawnmower just mows the lawn, you stick your hand in there and it'll chop it off, the end. You don't think 'oh, the lawnmower hates me' -- lawnmower doesn't give a shit about you, lawnmower can't hate you. Don't anthropomorphize the lawnmower. Don't fall into that trap about Oracle." -- Bryan Cantrill https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-zRN7XLCRhc https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-zRN7XLCRhc