Nobody’s going to steal your idea by John D. Cook.
From the post:
When I was working on my dissertation, I thought someone might scoop my research and I’d have to start over. Looking back, that was ridiculous. For one thing, my research was too arcane for many others to care about. And even if someone had proven one of my theorems, there would still be something original in my work.
Since then I’ve signed NDAs (non-disclosure agreements) for numerous companies afraid that someone might steal their ideas. Maybe they’re doing the right thing to be cautious, but I doubt it’s necessary.
A useful reminder from John D. Cook that we should be more concerned with dissemination of ideas than hoarding them out of fear.
The flip side is the wider the implementation of a “good idea,” the more power it has.
Imagine if the HTTP protocol was copyrighted to prevent people from stealing it and only customers of Tim Berners-Lee could use it.
Hoarding a good idea can make it into a trivial idea.
Something to think about.