Who's your daddy now?

The US tech industry has long congratulated itself in pride of top place in the world of technological prowess. But wait a minute there, pilgrim:

U.S. loses top spot in global tech study By BRADLEY S. KLAPPER

European countries and Singapore have surpassed the United States in their ability to exploit information and communication technology, according to a new survey.

The study, out Wednesday, largely blamed increased political and corporate interference in the judicial system.

The index, which measures the range of factors that affect a country's ability to harness information technologies for economic competitiveness and development, also cited the United States' low rate of mobile telephone usage, a lack of government leadership in information technology and the low quality of math and science education.

But Thierry Geiger, one of the Forum's economists responsible for the 361-page report, said the U.S. market environment remains the best in the world in terms of how easy it is to set up a business, get loans and have access to market capital.

Nordic countries - traditionally strong in all surveys conducted by the Geneva-based Forum - dominated the top of the rankings.

Guambat reckons a great deal of the lethargy in the US system is somehow tied to the expansion of the US strangle-hold on IP, including extending the time of copyright monopoly, allowing the patenting of vague business processes, and generally taking an aggressive stance on anything that can get past the patent office's inbox, while extending the global reach of that system via so-called free trade agreements, like the one with Australia. The industry has mired itself behind its own bulwarks. It spends a disproportionate amount of resource and time in defending and entrenching yesterday's tech advances over expanding tomorrow's.