- I have created a project for use in my other office projects and I am the only author of it.
- My project does not use any code from any of my organization's products or its licensed projects.
- My manager did not ask for it (directly or indirectly) and is not even aware of the project.
- Our company doesn't seem to have any open source projects till date. So, I would like to publish my project on my personal GitHub account.
Is it ethical to make my project open source?
Two conflicting points of view are:
- Ethical: Since I am also giving my project to be used in the company's products (including those which I develop) and open sourcing it doesn't have any negative business impact.
For example, it is like Google and its open source Gson project. Gson project is open-sourced but doesn't seem to have any notable direct impact on Google's business
- Unethical: Because the company's resources (PC, electric power, Internet etc) are used. So the company is part of it.
However, many people use company's resources for personal activities, for example, using company's Internet for WhatsApp. When this is okay, then the former will also be okay.
- Should I ask my manager or team lead? What if they do not consent for it?
- The main question, is it ethical or unethical?