IP: Re: Dvorak Commentary

[David Farber <dave@farber.net>]

>Date: Sat, 28 Jul 2001 17:44:49 -0500
>From: Steve Cohen <stevecoh1@home.com>
>To: farber@cis.upenn.edu
>Subject: Re: IP: Dvorak Commentary
>
>Interesting but not at all convincing.
>
>High tech people appear to have political agreement only because they have 
>historically cared so little about politics.  Is there really a "high-tech 
>position" about sweatshops, for example?  I doubt it.  High tech people 
>rarely pause in their own daily activities to ponder issues like 
>that.  Most of the issues that make up what seems to be the "high-tech 
>consensus" are only there because high-tech folk haven't thought that much 
>about them.  It's the classic case of a mile wide and an inch deep.
>
>Did I hear the word "clout" mentioned?  Oh please!  Do you suppose I can 
>call on my high-tech "clout" to keep me, a 48-year old programmer working 
>that much longer in the industry when those who actually have some 
>high-tech clout are using to flood the country with H1B programmers under 
>the notion that anyone still programming past 30 is washed up like a 
>football player?  (Hah! - no employer has ever thought me "washed up" 
>after seeing me in action for awhile - but I do have a hard time with HR 
>reps whenever I go looking for a new job).
>
>Now on to the techie issues that Dvorak wants us unite around and it's 
>more of the same.  Yes, I agree with him on all of these issues.  But who 
>was it who got the Digital Millennium Copyright Act passed in the first 
>place?  More of my high-tech "union brothers" in action.  The ones with 
>the clout.  The CEOs, the ones who consciously went about harnessing my 
>skills to fund their gravy train.  The ones who want to take out patents 
>on my ideas.
>
>There has been so much money flowing into this field that engineers could 
>be forgiven for forgetting to notice which side their bread was buttered 
>on.  It may have been kind of hard to tell sometimes.  However, now that 
>the spigot has been turned off, they may find it valuable to take a good 
>hard look at who their friends are.  High-tech is only going to splinter 
>as a cohesive political group under these conditions.



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