A classic "government first" story.
A commentary in today's Wall Street Journal illustrate just another way you can always count on your government at work. The article is about the potential pending black out of service for Research in Motion (RIM). RIM is the company that markets, sells, and operates the "Blackberry," a combined email and cell phone device. The devices are so addictive that users nickname them the "crackberry!" I'm a crackberry addict myself.
A company named NTP is suing RIM for patent infringement and has actually won the initial case. The suit has been tied up in the courts for some time. On Monday, RIM lost another piece of the case and there is a slim chance that Blackberry service will actually be turned off across the United States until RIM can license the proper technology from NTP.
The joke is that if and when service gets shut down, it won't actually be shut down for everyone. Over 300,000 government users of the Blackberry will be safe because the Justice Department filed an injunction to exclude government users from the shut down.
If RIM violated the patents in question, it would seem that NTP is dues some payments. Either way, how is it that the U.S. government gets extra, special status protection against shut downs? There may be actual public safety reasons for this exclusion, but does anyone really believe that? Come on, just another case of government taking special status for itself.
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