Michael Geist is “Unravelling the Canadian Copyright Policy Laundering Strategy”
This lengthy post seeks to unravel the effort further by demonstrating how there has been a clear strategy of deploying seemingly independent organizations to advance the same goals, claims, arguments, and recommendations. Over the past three years, this strategy has played out with multiple reports, each building on the next with a steady stream of self-citation. The following diagram highlights the key players…
Apparently the middlemen don’t like the prospect of being cut out of the producer-consumer chain. This reminds me of trying to procure parts (plumbing, electrical, whatever)and the retailer tells you he has to check with the wholesaler to see if the part is in stock. You are then told, nope the wholesaler says it’ll be three weeks.
You then ask yourself what the heck is the purpose of a wholesaler (as you’re ordering the part on the internet to be shipped to you in three days).
The reason for the symetery in the arguments and positions is because they all have the same PR firm. The strategy is called astro-turfing and is a well used tool in the arsenal of sleaze and corruption.