What Would Thoreau Do?

When Eric Eldred drove his Internet Bookmobile to Walden Pond several weeks ago, he wanted to distribute free books to visitors. He would celebrate the 150th anniversary of Thoreau's classic book, "Walden," by giving away the book, which is freely available in the public domain. Eldred has experience with the subject of "public domain" -- his website of free online books ran contrary to the goal of the Sonny Bono Copyright Term Extension Act (1998). Eldred's loss in the well-known Supreme Court case, Eldred v. Ashcroft, has not made Eldred shy of legal battles. Park rangers at Walden Pond asked Eldred to leave, arguing that Walden's "unique image" needed to be upheld. Eldred's response: "I asked myself what Thoreau would have done." He's now investigating whether park officials violated his first amendment rights to distribute the text. See the full report in today's Boston Globe.