In my various lectures about legal aspects of IT, I’ve often used the hypothetical example of “what if Sir Timothy Berners-Lee had patented the Web?” (it would have been able to start developing freely from the year we have now). I’ve also always thought the example as a bit hyperbolic – in the same class with the FFII webshop.

And now Cory Doctorow tells us that some dude suggests in all honesty that it would have been a great idea. Sure, I’ve seen this kind of people before – but none of them have been in charge of a UN-level organization. Excessive use of a neck-tie…?

Joe Bauers aka Not Sure in the Idiocracy movie probably felt a bit similar after waking up at Buttfuckers.

Still, some other news suggest a bit better scenario – the Greens at the European Parliament have apparently grokked it. Even if they are few, the fact itself occurring at the EP level is notable indeed.