There is a reason for this apparent blindness. The information economy is unfamiliar territory. When private parties are allowed to exploit Federal land, we can all work out the politics of the situation. Many groups are, though they might not see it that way. Environmentalists wish that some of the profits on patented pharmaceuticals drawn from the rain forest could be returned to protect their source.
Religious organizations protest the patenting of living organisms.
Each group is complaining about an intellectual property system that has expanded out of control. Yet they don't see those complaints, or their interests, as linked. Part of the problem is that we have not adapted our public debate to the realities of the information age. Censorship we understand. These. are harder to discuss.