If you care about culture — what it is, where it is right now and where it's going — you must read this essay by Jonathan Lethem from a recent issue of Harper's magazine, which deals with corporate efforts to commodify, control and own the conversation of culture that has always been at the heart of artistic enterprise. You can find the article here:
An interview with Lethem about the piece can be heard here:
Jonathan Lethem on Open Source
Lethem's essay will very likely become a seminal document in the great fight to reclaim culture in our time.
As an addendum, I offer this quote from Igor Stravinsky:
“I love Mozart, and I steal from Mozart, and I feel I have right to steal from Mozart, because I love him.”