And their stated issues are not trivial. I have personally run into a few cases where people thought that they owned their work, but actually it was owned by their employer. I don't have to look very far - it happened to me personally when I lived in New York. (Not entirely coincidentally, I now live in California where it is much easier to retain ownership of any side project that I might happen to do.)
Yes, it is handing them extra power that is abusable. However it is also power that they may have legitimate reasons to want. As with all legal agreements, the real question is what you are afraid of.
No, a copyright assignment is not the same thing as a contributor license agreement. Copyright assignment is in all respects that this article cares about even worse.
Therefore the fact that one of the most extreme software freedom organizations out there argues for copyright assignments is very telling.
And their stated issues are not trivial. I have personally run into a few cases where people thought that they owned their work, but actually it was owned by their employer. I don't have to look very far - it happened to me personally when I lived in New York. (Not entirely coincidentally, I now live in California where it is much easier to retain ownership of any side project that I might happen to do.)
Yes, it is handing them extra power that is abusable. However it is also power that they may have legitimate reasons to want. As with all legal agreements, the real question is what you are afraid of.