> "Bowker is the exclusive U.S. agent for issuing International Standard Book Numbers (ISBNs), a universal method of identifying books in print. (...) It is now owned by Cambridge Information Group."
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/R.R._Bowker
Cambridge Information Group? click
> "Cambridge Information Group (CIG) is a privately owned group of information services and publishing companies and educational institutions."
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cambridge_Information_Group
Ok... that kind of sounds like conflicts of interest waiting to happen. Not to mention ISBNs being the kind of fundamental infrastructure/natural monopoly combination where I definitely would not want to see a for-profit entity be in charge of it.
But that's just my gut-feelings. How does this set-up play out in practice?