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Alright, Fred. We all agree with you here, the people you need to convince are the ones writing the laws. You're a wealthy and powerful person, who is good frie

Alright, Fred. We all agree with you here, the people you need to convince are the ones writing the laws. You're a wealthy and powerful person, who is good friends with other wealthy and powerful people, so why not leverage that? Hire a lobbying firm, get actively involved in the cause. Whatever you do, don't count on Reddit and Hacker News to do it for you, that's just slacktivism.

dpcan 15y ago
Exactly. We all sit around here and preach to the choir. I don't know that anyone really knows how or what to do here. How does a non-mainstream issue like this get into the public eye in such a way that anyone but our niche gives a crap? Lastly, we have to ask why they REALLY exist. What is REALLY going on. Where is the money in all this, who's making the most? If Big Software Corp A wants patents to stick around, and the legislator wants Big Software Corp A's money for the next election, do they have any interest in representing the people, or just the corporation? In this situation, the number of PEOPLE who don't want these patents has to surpass the influence of the large corporations who do want software patents to stay as they are. I just don't see this happening.
- ChuckMcM 15y ago
  Just out of curiosity, when is the last time you talked with your representative in Congress? (I know, I'm assuming you are based in the USA) I ask because I find a high correlation between this particular point of view : "entity 'x' whom is unassailable, is corrupting the politician I voted in to represent me." And people who have neither voted, nor talked with any representative who was either elected or was trying to be elected. Here is my idea on 'what to do' here, let me know if it sounds reasonable or not. My idea is that a group of technologists work with Congress and the Patent and Trademark office to take a look at the existing processes and goals and then put together a program for moving the existing patent law into something that makes sense and serves the needs of inventors without creating opportunities for commercial extortion. Worth a shot?
  - bjelkeman-again 15y ago
    The question is if it is more effective to hack politics through the traditional way, ie lobbying and being involved in politics, or if you can do better by being a hacker/entrepreneur. I mentioned this before in a discussion about how we change government policy by building software. http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2479302 http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2479302
    - ChuckMcM 15y ago
      Excellent! That is another great way to help out. I tell people that democracy is a participation sport, it's so much more effective to do something about your concerns than to simply complain about them, and doing something isn't all that hard.
gyardley 15y ago
What makes you think he's not? I have no idea what USV is up to today, but back when my company was in their portfolio, I got the impression that they were no strangers to lobbying.
fredwilson 15y ago
true. we are doing some stuff on this front and we will do more. but getting our thoughts out there is never bad. this post got over 50,000 visits today alone. that's not a small number
JoshTriplett 15y ago
Most hackers already know this, and most of them agree; however, that doesn't mean everyone in business does, and this article has a broader target audience than just hackers. This issue doesn't have nearly enough exposure for non-hackers. Not too long ago, I attended a large meeting of software business people. They needed to find or write appropriate collaboration software for a particular aspect of their community, and the discussion had pretty much taken it as a given that if they ended up developing the software it would get released as OSS. At one point, someone in the room (who had previously introduced themselves as a business founder) said something to the effect of "We're all trying to build businesses on software, so isn't Open Source undermining everything we do here?", with some further comments about the incompatibility of OSS and business. They got a pile of shocked glares, with expressions that plainly said "where have you been for the last decade?", and someone quickly and kindly preempted the dozen responses they were about to get with a brief "no, suffice it to say there are a lot of people building successful businesses on Open Source, and further explanations should wait until after this meeting". Never assume that everyone understands something just because everyone you know understands it, even if everyone you know understands it to the point of not even needing to hear about it anymore.

dpcan 15y ago

Exactly. We all sit around here and preach to the choir. I don't know that anyone really knows how or what to do here. How does a non-mainstream issue like this get into the public eye in such a way that anyone but our niche gives a crap? Lastly, we have to ask why they REALLY exist. What is REALLY going on. Where is the money in all this, who's making the most? If Big Software Corp A wants patents to stick around, and the legislator wants Big Software Corp A's money for the next election, do they have any interest in representing the people, or just the corporation? In this situation, the number of PEOPLE who don't want these patents has to surpass the influence of the large corporations who do want software patents to stay as they are. I just don't see this happening.

ChuckMcM 15y ago
Just out of curiosity, when is the last time you talked with your representative in Congress? (I know, I'm assuming you are based in the USA) I ask because I find a high correlation between this particular point of view : "entity 'x' whom is unassailable, is corrupting the politician I voted in to represent me." And people who have neither voted, nor talked with any representative who was either elected or was trying to be elected. Here is my idea on 'what to do' here, let me know if it sounds reasonable or not. My idea is that a group of technologists work with Congress and the Patent and Trademark office to take a look at the existing processes and goals and then put together a program for moving the existing patent law into something that makes sense and serves the needs of inventors without creating opportunities for commercial extortion. Worth a shot?
- bjelkeman-again 15y ago
  The question is if it is more effective to hack politics through the traditional way, ie lobbying and being involved in politics, or if you can do better by being a hacker/entrepreneur. I mentioned this before in a discussion about how we change government policy by building software. http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2479302 http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2479302
  - ChuckMcM 15y ago
    Excellent! That is another great way to help out. I tell people that democracy is a participation sport, it's so much more effective to do something about your concerns than to simply complain about them, and doing something isn't all that hard.

gyardley 15y ago

What makes you think he's not? I have no idea what USV is up to today, but back when my company was in their portfolio, I got the impression that they were no strangers to lobbying.

fredwilson 15y ago

true. we are doing some stuff on this front and we will do more. but getting our thoughts out there is never bad. this post got over 50,000 visits today alone. that's not a small number

JoshTriplett 15y ago

Most hackers already know this, and most of them agree; however, that doesn't mean everyone in business does, and this article has a broader target audience than just hackers. This issue doesn't have nearly enough exposure for non-hackers. Not too long ago, I attended a large meeting of software business people. They needed to find or write appropriate collaboration software for a particular aspect of their community, and the discussion had pretty much taken it as a given that if they ended up developing the software it would get released as OSS. At one point, someone in the room (who had previously introduced themselves as a business founder) said something to the effect of "We're all trying to build businesses on software, so isn't Open Source undermining everything we do here?", with some further comments about the incompatibility of OSS and business. They got a pile of shocked glares, with expressions that plainly said "where have you been for the last decade?", and someone quickly and kindly preempted the dozen responses they were about to get with a brief "no, suffice it to say there are a lot of people building successful businesses on Open Source, and further explanations should wait until after this meeting". Never assume that everyone understands something just because everyone you know understands it, even if everyone you know understands it to the point of not even needing to hear about it anymore.