I just read this story about PRISM — an astroturf organization established by science publishers to discredit free open access journals — illegally using copyrighted materials on the very web site they created to promote locking up scientific knowledge for profit. Yes folks, they bandy all these moral arguments for maximizing copyright and protecting rights, and then in the very web site where they do this, they use copyrighted images pilfered from elsewhere.

I can’t help thinking there needs to be a “hypocrite clause” in our law books. Any time someone is making an argument for something, and then current evidence is found to prove that they don’t adhere to the principle for which they are arguing, their arguments should be thrown out.

If you’re going to stand on morals, you have to be moral.