[downandout]

No, I don't want to "basically outlaw lobbying for representation". I said nothing of the sort. I said that organizations that directly profit from criminal laws shouldn't be able to lobby for them. Criminal laws do tremendous damage to the lives of the people they affect, and as such need to be deliberated without the influence of people that will financially benefit from them.

And yes, a world where criminal laws are not able to be influenced by people that will profit from them is definitely one I want to live in.

[alistairSH]

Should we, as software developers and IT professionals, be able to lobby about information security? Net neutrality?

If we can't, and Verizon/Cox also can't (they also have a conflict), who is left? People who either don't care or lack enough knowledge of the issue to make reasonable policy recommendations?

[downandout]

Will you directly profit if someone goes to jail as a result of the laws you're lobbying for? That is the only scenario I am talking about here.

[danso]

As a developer not in the Windows ecosystem, I would have definitely benefited from lobbying on behalf of an anti-trust action against Microsoft.

[downandout]

Did Microsoft go to jail?

[danso]

Being incarcerated is not the only nor the worst affliction that a government can bring down upon you.

[downandout]

Ask someone that has been in prison for a while what their opinion on this is. I think they'd disagree.