Lobbying's not a crime, as Microsoft (like all tech vendors) has come to realize. But astroturfing is definitely frowned upon. That's what makes Tim Lambert's piece entitled "When Think Tanks Attack" worth a read. Lambert — a lecturer with the School of Computer Science and Engineering, University of New South Wales, Australia — is definitely an open-source user. But he says he took no money for preparing a list of the many think tanks that appear to be funded in part by Microsoft.