Re: Perhaps I'm too cautious but...
They can already do that with open source code and probably have been since forever.
It's quite likely that most closed source code has chunks of open source mixed in, whether it breaks licence conditions or not. After all, who's going to know?
Yes, I know you can do code fingerprinting on object code, but I doubt most people would be daft enough to just steal wholesale. Different compilers, different compiler settings and re-jigging the code to work the "corporate way" would probably hide most of it.)
Biting the hand that feeds IT
