I'm a big fan of the OpenSource development model, and I think that sharing information, knowledge and ideas is the best way of working in software development. Still I think that being hired for proprietary software development must not be demonized. Of course, as there's a no reward in terms of sharing there must be a bigger reward in terms of money (i.e. I surrender all my rights for cash).

It may happen that one gets hired piecework, for a single project: in this case one is more vulnerable to dishonest employers. This didn't happen to me personally, but some friends of mine had bad experiences, and lost a lot of time without being fairly retributed.

Of course a contract should protect both parts. But contracts can be very generic in the specification. Software is not anything but a palpable good! Besides I don't think that contracts can distinguish between a well written software and a poorly written one.

Note also that, in this (nasty) spirit, it's also likely that the employer cannot trust the employee! So also the employer should be protected by a dishonest employee).

My question is the following: Which is, in your opinion, a good way of avoiding this kind of situation from the technical perspective?