Complaining to DannyBee about the tech lobbying presence is missing the point. In terms of what he might be able to influence, Google actually has a significant (and growing) lobbying presence on a number of issues:
And, last I heard, software patents were a prominent issue on Google's list. The point he's making is that the EFF and Google and the few others directly pushing on this aren't enough and that "enough" people who care enough to regularly write congressmen could make a big difference.
More generally, it is worth underlining that the tech industry is not unanimous on this issue. Should the anti-software patent side start to get some traction in Congress, you could expect pro-software patent players to push back - not just patent lawyers and trolls but probably also companies benefiting from the current regime (e.g. IBM, Microsoft and Apple). In that sort of situation, I suspect the organized lobbying on both sides starts to cancel out and engaged voters start to make an even bigger difference.
http://www.opensecrets.org/lobby/clientsum.php?id=d000022008...
And, last I heard, software patents were a prominent issue on Google's list. The point he's making is that the EFF and Google and the few others directly pushing on this aren't enough and that "enough" people who care enough to regularly write congressmen could make a big difference.
More generally, it is worth underlining that the tech industry is not unanimous on this issue. Should the anti-software patent side start to get some traction in Congress, you could expect pro-software patent players to push back - not just patent lawyers and trolls but probably also companies benefiting from the current regime (e.g. IBM, Microsoft and Apple). In that sort of situation, I suspect the organized lobbying on both sides starts to cancel out and engaged voters start to make an even bigger difference.