There is so little that you stand to gain by agreeing to the CLA (and so much downside for them if they reject it and keep the status quo) that the best thing would be to say no.
And I hope that if they do keep it as-is and then someone comes along later and makes the fix, you hound them about violating your IP and cite their comment "we do not have the rights" as prima facie evidence. Make CLA worshippers bite the bullet on their goofy beliefs.
> no one, including myself or my employer, can claim copyright ownership over it
People can claim anything they want. Whether they're correct is the thing. I'm suggesting that, since they've articulated a belief that they can't use it without an explicit CLA, you go ahead and yes-and them and play it out both for comedy's sake and the greater good.
I am sympathetic to that view, however, I have no desire to "punish" the authors for choosing to use a CLA in this case. I am not going to waste the time of multiple people at my day job to get this approved, however. Nor do I want my mental health called into question at work, which would be a predictable result of making such a request.
There is so little that you stand to gain by agreeing to the CLA (and so much downside for them if they reject it and keep the status quo) that the best thing would be to say no.
And I hope that if they do keep it as-is and then someone comes along later and makes the fix, you hound them about violating your IP and cite their comment "we do not have the rights" as prima facie evidence. Make CLA worshippers bite the bullet on their goofy beliefs.