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And there are those forming their opinions on this matter. I spent a little more than 2 years of intensive study forming my opinion - from squarely for copyrights to squarely against it and advocating copyright abolition; see The Battle for Ant Hill. "Against Intellectual Monopoly" by Michele Boldrin and David K. Levine goes through much of the arguments behind abolishing copyright.

The level of corruption is very low in Norway, but it happens.

The meeting: 27 people in the room, 4 of which were administrative staff from Standard Norge.

The outcome: Of the 24 members attending, 19 disapproved, 5 approved.

The result: The administrative staff decided that Norway wants to approve OOXML as an ISO standard.

source: http://blogs.freecode.no/isene/2008/03/30/promoting-the-repair-shop-philosophy/

from

http://blogs.freecode.no/isene/2008/03/31/norwegian-committee-chairman-to-iso-count-the-vote-as-no/
http://consortiuminfo.org/standardsblog/article.php?story=20080331114700984
http://blogs.freecode.no/isene/2008/03/30/promoting-the-repair-shop-philosophy/

This was just sent to ISO from the chairman of the Norwegian standards committee responsible for evaluating OOXML:

Formal protest regarding the Norwegian vote on ISO/IEC DIS 29500

I am writing to you in my capacity as Chairman (of 13 years standing) of the Norwegian mirror committee to ISO/IEC JTC 1/SC 34. I wish to inform you of serious irregularities in connection with the Norwegian vote on ISO/IEC DIS 29500 (Office Open XML) and to lodge a formal protest.

You will have been notified that Norway voted to approve OOXML in this ballot. This decision does not reflect the view of the vast majority of the Norwegian committee, 80% of which was against changing Norway's vote from No with comments to Yes.

Because of this irregularity, a call has been made for an investigation by the Norwegian Ministry of Trade and Industry with a view to changing the vote.

I hereby request that the Norwegian decision be suspended pending the results of this investigation.

Yours sincerely,

Steve Pepper

Chairman, SN/K185 (ISO/IEC JTC 1/SC 34 mirror committee)

(sign.)

The Letter to ISO in pdf:

http://blogs.freecode.no/isene/wp-content/uploads/2008/04/iso-protest.pdf

from

http://blogs.freecode.no/isene/2008/03/31/norwegian-committee-chairman-to-iso-count-the-vote-as-no/
http://consortiuminfo.org/standardsblog/article.php?story=20080331114700984
http://blogs.freecode.no/isene/2008/03/30/promoting-the-repair-shop-philosophy/

This was just sent to ISO from the chairman of the Norwegian standards committee responsible for evaluating OOXML:

Formal protest regarding the Norwegian vote on ISO/IEC DIS 29500

I am writing to you in my capacity as Chairman (of 13 years standing) of the Norwegian mirror committee to ISO/IEC JTC 1/SC 34. I wish to inform you of serious irregularities in connection with the Norwegian vote on ISO/IEC DIS 29500 (Office Open XML) and to lodge a formal protest.

You will have been notified that Norway voted to approve OOXML in this ballot. This decision does not reflect the view of the vast majority of the Norwegian committee, 80% of which was against changing Norway's vote from No with comments to Yes.

Because of this irregularity, a call has been made for an investigation by the Norwegian Ministry of Trade and Industry with a view to changing the vote.

I hereby request that the Norwegian decision be suspended pending the results of this investigation.

Yours sincerely,

Steve Pepper

Chairman, SN/K185 (ISO/IEC JTC 1/SC 34 mirror committee)

(sign.)

The Letter to ISO in pdf:

http://blogs.freecode.no/isene/wp-content/uploads/2008/04/iso-protest.pdf

from

http://blogs.freecode.no/isene/2008/03/31/norwegian-committee-chairman-to-iso-count-the-vote-as-no/
http://consortiuminfo.org/standardsblog/article.php?story=20080331114700984
http://blogs.freecode.no/isene/2008/03/30/promoting-the-repair-shop-philosophy/

This was just sent to ISO from the chairman of the Norwegian standards committee responsible for evaluating OOXML:

Formal protest regarding the Norwegian vote on ISO/IEC DIS 29500

I am writing to you in my capacity as Chairman (of 13 years standing) of the Norwegian mirror committee to ISO/IEC JTC 1/SC 34. I wish to inform you of serious irregularities in connection with the Norwegian vote on ISO/IEC DIS 29500 (Office Open XML) and to lodge a formal protest.

You will have been notified that Norway voted to approve OOXML in this ballot. This decision does not reflect the view of the vast majority of the Norwegian committee, 80% of which was against changing Norway's vote from No with comments to Yes.

Because of this irregularity, a call has been made for an investigation by the Norwegian Ministry of Trade and Industry with a view to changing the vote.

I hereby request that the Norwegian decision be suspended pending the results of this investigation.

Yours sincerely,

Steve Pepper

Chairman, SN/K185 (ISO/IEC JTC 1/SC 34 mirror committee)

(sign.)

The Letter to ISO in pdf:

http://blogs.freecode.no/isene/wp-content/uploads/2008/04/iso-protest.pdf

Update: Norwegian committee chairman to ISO: Count our vote as No

http://blogs.freecode.no/isene/ (Blog of a Norwegian Standards Committee Member)

more on Groklaw.

You'll have to provide sources for that, since everything I've read says otherwise. E.g. http://blogs.freecode.no/isene/2008/03/30/promoting-the-repair-shop-philosophy/
Frankly, I suspect you are the one spreading misinformation on this. Even so, have you even considered what you are saying? Are you claiming that the vast majority of participants in the voting process claimed that the voting process was faulty, only to be overturned by a few people in charge (Who also were the ones with Microsoft ties?)
Yeah, that sounds much better.

It's good to be skeptical, but I think you bordered on cynicism. IBM is no knight in shining armor, but they have not been pulling these types of stunts. Fact is IBM has been around a long time as you point out, and they have probably learned that, when it comes to standards, it's better to play nice. If everyone sees a standards body as being useless or owned by one group then it will cease to have nearly as much influence. It's not like these ISO guys have guns and are going to force people to obey their recommendations. So while politics are bound to play a part, for the ISO recommendations to carry weight with industry there has to be perceived value and fairness from the members of industry who will decide if they will follow those recommendations. IBM and others who use the ISO standards as a way of finding mutual benefit have a vested interested in protecting the reputation of the ISO processes and bodies. Microsoft doesn't care so they crashed the party and did great harm to these same bodies.