IP: Re: NYT -- Microsoft's Lobbying Abuses

[Dave Farber <farber () cis upenn edu>]

> From: poor richard
>
> > > The NY Times Editorial, Microsoft's Lobbying Abuses, makes for some very
> > > interesting and thought provoking reading.
> > >
> > > http://www.nytimes.com/yr/mo/day/editorial/01mon3.html
>
> as loath as poor richard is to come to the defense of microsoft
> (particularly given that he's had to reboot his win98 machine twice before
> his morning paper), he feels obliged to respond.
>
> as the reporters of the nyt well know, lobbyists of all stripes often "help"
> write the legislation that passes through the bowels of congress (another
> helping of telecom reform act, anyone?). while greybeards such as poor
> richard might sniff at the legitimacy of this, it happens often enough that
> it would be unfair to term the practice uncommon.
>
> for the editors of the nyt to suggest that the actions of microsoft's
> lobbyists is an abuse is to turn two blind eyes to the real world. congress
> has the power of the purse. congress is the peoples' organ (though poor
> richard, being of a kind-hearted nature, declines to speculate as to which
> organ that is), and the process of scrutizining budgets is a time-honored
> way of getting the attention of all parts of the government.
>
> poor richard is quite confident that the other parties in the suit (e.g.,
> oracle, the company formerly known as netscape, and sun) have their own
> lobbyists who can argue that the antitrust division's budget must be
> expanded (providing of course that doj agrees not to look at neo-monopolies
> in databases, online communities, and so on).
>
> and now, poor richard must desperately hit the send button before his
> "production system" crashes once more...
>
> s/ poor richard

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