As a lawyer, I find it disturbing (and amusing) how much is blamed on lawyers. Lawyers are hired guns. A lawyer does not and can not patent anything or sue anyone by him/herself. It is usually businesses and the people who run them that make those decisions. It is business people that decide what to lobby. Yes, lawyers counsel those clients and help them with strategy and often shape arguments.

Admittedly, lawyers always have the option to decline representation for something they find morally reprehensible, however, believe it or not, lawyers are also supposed to follow a code of ethics which often places a certain obligation to represent people.

Disclaimer: Of course it's not really this cut and dry, but we do ourselves a disservice by placing all the blame on laywers. In this case, killing the lawyers would just mean the underlying technology of the web would be patented by the inventors themselves (as required by their employment contract) or by patent agents (engineers/scientists that are admitted to the patent bar and are NOT lawyers).