[Patents] Berkeley Would Shut Down Internet if Given the Chance

[Nick@bigfatpanda.fsnet.co.uk (Nick Fleming)]

Back in the late 80's (I think, not sure) some universities 
were allowed to fund themselves either in part or totally
privately rather than rely on state set budgets.

This effectively turned public funded universities into private
corporations and they started playing the usual corporate
games of getting their "employees" to sign away their rights.
I remember clearly signing a document that said any software
I wrote remained the sole property of the university I was studying
at, with no chance of putting anything into the public domain or
selling privately (student loans are NOT a good idea) to help
fund my education.

    When you think about it, if a private company works in partnership
with a university, with an exclusive licence on anything researched and
developed , you're effectively working as cheap labour for that
company, and not necessarily learning skills that you can take with you
into industry. I may not know much, but that just doesn't seem a good
way to run an education system to me.

Curiously, I think the internet would have happened regardless of whether
unix and TCP/IP were released by Berkley. Like the telephone system, the
demand and desire to link computers together into a communications tool
has been an overwhelming - if Berkey didnt do it, someone else would have.

Regards,

Nick Fleming.