> I knew it was time to start looking when I was informed that I had to get prior permission to do ANY open source contributions even on my own hardware on my own time.

This attitude seems kinda common, unfortunately. The critical issue is probably what the boundaries for 'work for hire' are. CA law [1] offers protections. Spolsky [2] offers detailed real-world context.

[1] http://law.justia.com/california/codes/lab/2870-2872.html

[2] http://www.brightjourney.com/q/working-company-intellectual-...