It's been a while since I was at a company that had that clause in it, but if I was in that situation in the future then at the minimum I'd want to ensure that I could still work on open source projects on my own. I was wondering what is the best way to phrase this with a potential employer (esp. if you are out of work, and desperately need that job)?
I was thinking along the lines of "Hey, I periodically do volunteer work for various charities, and I think this clause could hurt them. Could we add in that work not directly assigned to me and is related to a non-profit / charity is excluded from this clause?"
That way, if anything comes up, you could turn over copyright to the FSF or similar organization and you would be covered.
Asking about something in a weird indirect way is worse on all counts. Just ask directly if open source contribution is encouraged or allowed. If it isn't, and you still want to work there anyway, no company that's remotely decent is going to rescind an offer just because you asked about something.
In my opinion, it's better to ensure that you have the right to do whatever you want, and reap the benefits of that, if what you're doing does not compete with your employer. That way, you're covered with OSS projects as well as any others.
I was thinking along the lines of "Hey, I periodically do volunteer work for various charities, and I think this clause could hurt them. Could we add in that work not directly assigned to me and is related to a non-profit / charity is excluded from this clause?"
That way, if anything comes up, you could turn over copyright to the FSF or similar organization and you would be covered.