We all like to follow the leader. It's part of our primitive, tribalistic nature. It can turn off the rational part of our brain. Even if we really like the way someone thinks and what they do, we have to be careful to never give a pass when it comes to logic.
If there's threat of confiscation, work in open source. Problem solved. If doing so would be seen as threatening potential profits if a competitor forked the code and did it better, well then we start to see some real motivations after all.