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I agree with most of that Snopes article. Internet petitions (especially email ones) do not have a very good track record. Then again, there have been cases w

I agree with most of that Snopes article. Internet petitions (especially email ones) do not have a very good track record. Then again, there have been cases where online, grassroots sentiment has snowballed into something that affected the real world, no? So the goal of AskForIt is to re-invent the online petition, Web 2.0 style, using all the modern social networking tools available, to help get some things to the tipping point that wouldn't get there otherwise. Surely there is some level of public support for abolishing software patents that would get the attention of the politicians, so we're hoping people will decide that it doesn't really hurt anything to join on and see how high we can get.

sixtofour 15y ago
I seriously doubt that the public is even aware of the issue, or that they are able to understand the issue. Without that public pressure the only thing influencing Congress is lobbying and campaign donations. Big IP is very strong and assertive.
- jwecker 15y ago
  Considering that I've worked with dozens and have known hundreds of serious computer professionals and have yet to meet a single one that supports software patents (including many who have them!), and I suspect that I may never meet such a person- I have to agree that there is some public support for this issue. Admittedly, we're a small percentage of the general population, but we are certainly influencers. I believe that askforit.com is specifically trying to overcome the issues that snopes talks about (and even if they don't, it's silly to think that that will remain the "last word" on the issue- it's relevant for late-90's early 2000's technology). Secondly, if you were to pull 'Big copyright/DMCA' and 'Non-computer-related IP like pharma' out of 'Big IP' you'd be left with a peppering of small disreputable companies (that are really lawyers and not technologists) that actually attempt to make a little bit of money off of software patents, and big industry that use them as a form of mutually-assured-destruction - who are more or less ambivalent toward them but have to have them as insurance. So in short, I'm not totally disagreeing, but instead of the implied "tiny group of HNewsers vs. Every big corporation" I think it's more along the lines of "pretty much everyone that does anything serious with computers vs. general apathy and a small smear of vested interests." What would prove me wrong: Is there even a single currently reputable/established company big enough to lobby congress that has software patent royalties as a significant revenue source? If so, are there several of these? I'll be impressed if someone can think of one... but is there really some hidden computer software industry perhaps deep in the bowels if the fortune-500s that I somehow just never hear about that actually use software patents in the intended way [i.e., not for insurance against competing patent claims]? EDIT: I'm responding to you and andrewvc at the same time- sorry if it countered arguments that you actually didn't make.

sixtofour 15y ago

I seriously doubt that the public is even aware of the issue, or that they are able to understand the issue. Without that public pressure the only thing influencing Congress is lobbying and campaign donations. Big IP is very strong and assertive.

jwecker 15y ago
Considering that I've worked with dozens and have known hundreds of serious computer professionals and have yet to meet a single one that supports software patents (including many who have them!), and I suspect that I may never meet such a person- I have to agree that there is some public support for this issue. Admittedly, we're a small percentage of the general population, but we are certainly influencers. I believe that askforit.com is specifically trying to overcome the issues that snopes talks about (and even if they don't, it's silly to think that that will remain the "last word" on the issue- it's relevant for late-90's early 2000's technology). Secondly, if you were to pull 'Big copyright/DMCA' and 'Non-computer-related IP like pharma' out of 'Big IP' you'd be left with a peppering of small disreputable companies (that are really lawyers and not technologists) that actually attempt to make a little bit of money off of software patents, and big industry that use them as a form of mutually-assured-destruction - who are more or less ambivalent toward them but have to have them as insurance. So in short, I'm not totally disagreeing, but instead of the implied "tiny group of HNewsers vs. Every big corporation" I think it's more along the lines of "pretty much everyone that does anything serious with computers vs. general apathy and a small smear of vested interests." What would prove me wrong: Is there even a single currently reputable/established company big enough to lobby congress that has software patent royalties as a significant revenue source? If so, are there several of these? I'll be impressed if someone can think of one... but is there really some hidden computer software industry perhaps deep in the bowels if the fortune-500s that I somehow just never hear about that actually use software patents in the intended way [i.e., not for insurance against competing patent claims]? EDIT: I'm responding to you and andrewvc at the same time- sorry if it countered arguments that you actually didn't make.