Sleeping with the enemy

Posted Aug 12, 2004 9:42 UTC (Thu) by xoddam (subscriber, #2322)
In reply to: OSRM's patent study by BrucePerens
Parent article: OSRM's patent study

> OSRM paid all the bills, many thousands of dollars for just these two
> press tours so far.

> ... I got Cato, CDT, and other conservative organizations to buy
> my economic argument!

Cato wasn't buying, it was selling.

You've paid good money for the qualified good opinion of a bunch of think
tanks. Rest assured that Microsoft, RIAA, MPAA and the rest of the
Intellectual Property lobby will be happy to pay far, far more.

<rant>
Getting into bed with the likes of the Cato Institute is morally dubious.

Remember that these are the people who defend the privilege of today's
private elite, by insisting that there's nothing wrong with the world as
it is, except for do-gooders trying to meddle with it. They say we'll
never run out of oil (because one day it will be too expensive to extract
any more) -- supporting existing oil cartels (except of course for the
evil OPEC). They oppose affirmative action (insisting that existing
structural biases are either nonexistent or justifiable) -- thus
supporting the privileged access to education and employment of the
children of the beneficiaries of past oppression. They oppose media
diversity legislation (on the ground that people can read whatever they
choose, if only they know where to look) -- and thus ensure the continued
ability of News Corporation, Disney and AOLTimeWarner to spoon-feed the
vast majority of the populace.

It's such a simple technique that they can afford to be totally
consistent about it. Defending the status quo from misguided [insert
whichever agency of public policy threatens your valuable customer here]
will always be convincing to people in a somewhat similar position
themselves. Now that Free Software is a major contributor to (eg. IBM's)
private wealth, perhaps it has become worthy of being defended from the
threat of the Patent Office -- but don't underestimate the buying power
of the IP lobby.

Better to leave such think tanks to their own kind and let Eric Raymond
talk to them.
</rant>