Kelly, Kevin. “Scan this book!” The New York Times Magazine, May 14, 2006.

It is now technically possible to assemble, on the Web, a comprehensive library of permanent products of human culture: literature, scholarly writing, music, graphic art, photography, and film. Librarians and search-engine companies are eager to make the attempt, and indeed to extend it by providing readers and viewers the opportunity to add links and annotations. However, copyright law is impeding the effort, by requiring the permission of a copyright holder for such uses of almost all cultural productions. It is difficult or impossible to find out who owns the copyright to most works, and, although the term of copyright is in most cases limited, it is so long as to make a mockery of the original goal of encouraging innovative creators. Currently, digital technology is forcing us to reconsider the nature and purpose of cultural production, while corporations who hold many copyrights pay legislators to pass reactionary laws intended to protect their obsolete business models from technological change.