You are also famous and had a big OSS presence before joining Google, you worked on Google blessed OSS software while employed there. You are in no way typical of the bullshit other folks have to go through.
The Twitter OP also had his random OSS project approved in IARC and he wasn't famous. He also even says the workflow today is much more permissive than it was when he joined (aka, it's gotten better)
Then again, twitter OP also is attempting to apply boolean logic to legal documents as if that whole "BUT TECHNICALLY" bullshit actually flies in court. He had a bad experience on 1 of 2 projects, decided to contribute to a 3rd knowingly violating policies (legal liability much?), got chewed out for it (but not fired or "retaliated against"), and is now ranting about that experience from many years ago on twitter.
I had two projects go through IARC. One was approved (after a month or two wait IIRC) explicitly because Google wants nothing to do with console hacking projects, emulators, etc. The other was a completely normal OSS project that ships in Ubuntu these days, and it was denied with no explanation or recourse.
It's gotten better, but that doesn't negate my experience. I'm sharing it now, and didn't in the past, because if Google really made a mistake in their Irish contracts in favor of their employees, I didn't want to jinx it for other people. I assume the contract has changed enough by now that it doesn't matter. I also hold no grudge with Google, I left on excellent terms and otherwise enjoyed my experience there - but this IP ownership BS was one of the things that tipped the scale towards moving on to other things in my life.
I was retaliated against, by being explicitly forbidden from ever actually using the relevant corporate processes that other employees enjoyed. I was lucky my contract turned out to be in my favor, or else I might have just left the company at that point.
As for the Boolean logic stuff, you don't need to know what Boolean logic is to be able to read an "or" in a contract. I simply used Boolean logic to explain the subtle difference between my Irish contract and California law. No Irish judge is going to look at my contract and say "well, actually, this is CLEARLY intended to be like California law so that applies here now". The contract, as written, gave me the right to my own work as long as I didn't use company property or do it as a direct result of my work at the company. Just because I explained it in CS terms doesn't mean I'm riding on some obscure technicality.
