Mike at Techdirt (link here) points us to Jonathan Lethem's piece in Harpers (link here) which is both an extended discussion of copyright and the abuses it is now suffering, and a poetic evocation of language and imaginative ideas which have come to us through the ages and still inspire literature, ultimately questioning the definition of plagiarism. To make his point, he pulls the reader's leg by making the whole piece up from bits and pieces from other writers and then puts the sources for all of them in an extended set of footnotes, making his point that all of us depend on the work of others and that the current practice of sharply limiting access is a crime against society and human progress.

Looks to be a very good essay (I've only skimmed it so far). What I'd like to see attached to it is a clear statement that it should be freely copied and shared. I was surprised not to see an "all rights reserved" notice somewhere -- I'd expect that and the resulting irony from a big magazine like Harper's.