I’ve been reading Cass Sunstein‘s recent book Infotopia very slowly. For three reasons. Because it’s very good and I want to savour it. Because it needs time to digest well. And because I’m on vacation.
As part of the conversation on opensource software, Cass quotes Woody Guthrie‘s copyright notice, as published in a 1930s songbook:
This song is Copyrighted in U.S., under Seal of Copyright 154085, for a period of 28 years, and anybody caught singin it without our permission, will be mighty good friends of ourn, cause we don’t give a dern. Publish it. Write it. Sing it. Swing to it. Yodel it. We wrote it, that’s all we wanted to do.
Wonderful quote. Thank you, Cass. I will comment on the book once I have had the chance to mull over it.