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State-corporatist innovative process revealed: industry lobbyists bitching that the groupthinktank’s independent report they paid for includes independent opinions. In the linked article, Michael Geist, who first spotted the plagiarized passages, uses an excellent phrase:

It’s equally telling, if not more important, on the copyright side. It’s a very clear confirmation that the kind of policy laundering that many of us have been concerned about, where you get large U.S. and Canadian lobby groups trying to launder their positions through seemingly independent groups, is exactly what’s taking place.

Geist’s identification of plagiarism was a good catch, but it obscures the bigger picture — in which policy coordination and harmonization require people working in different jurisdictions to arrive at substantially similar if not identical language. In this context, plagiarism is a feature not a bug.

Wikipedia cites Ian Hosein in its definition of policy laundering as a “means to disguise the origin or real purpose of political decisions, laws or international treaties.” Privacy International notes that “policies are being developed outside of national deliberative fora and then adopted locally in the interests of national governments.”

To see just how anemic these definitions are, compare Wikipedia’s definition of money laundering:

the practice of disguising illegally obtained funds so that they seem legal. It is a crime in many jurisdictions with varying definitions. It is a key operation of the underground economy.

If money laundering is a key operation in an “underground economy,” here’s a useful question in the form of a mad lib: policy laundering is a key operation in a(n) ___________ economy.

Unfortunately, the semantics of verticality (how ’80s is that phrase?!) are pretty one-way — down=bad, up=good — so it would be hard to coin a phrase that conveys the possibility of a sinister “aerial,” “atmospheric,” or “elevated” economy. Alas. But, neologism notwithstanding, there are different ways to break the law: if criminals do it by transgressing the law, influence-peddlers do it by changing the law. Rewriting definitions of policy laundering in a less wonkish way, one that more closely mirrors definitions of money laundering, would be a fine exercise. For example:

the practice of disguising improperly drafted laws and policies so that they seem bona fide. It corrupts representative government. It is a key operation of transnational conspiracy.

A bit bombastic, but a start.

See: “Plagiarism is necessary: state-corporatist innovation implies it.”