[Nursie]

I agree they have the right to organise and speak like any other group.

I just wonder why they think they ought to be given any special consideration when it comes to policy making, or be able to use their status as law-enforcement officers (a group the public give weight to) to voice such opinions.

[aaronem]

Perhaps because they have domain expertise not generally available outside their field. Do you also argue developers have no reason to think they should be given special consideration in W3C's and IETF's standards processes?

[Nursie]

I disagree, I think they have selection bias. I also think that they are more like a CPU than they are like a developer. The legislator is the developer. The constitution (of whichever country you are in) is the standards body. It is their job to execute the law, not to make it.