It’s no secret I’m a huge fan of the public domain: the bits of our culture that are actually free for individuals to use as they see fit. I’ve promoted a couple of interesting public domain resources here, mostly Project Gutenberg. I’ve also had the pleasure of meating Brewster Kahle when he brought the Internet BookMobile to Hackers a couple of years back. I still have the copy of Alice in Wonderland that we printed, bound and cut. Nifty stuff.

Eric Eldred relates an interesting story in the archive.org forums. He decided to take the Internet Bookmobile to Walden Pond in Concord, MA, the location immortalized in Thoreau’s classic Walden. For those of you who haven’t heard of the Internet Bookmobile, it’s a van equipped with satellite Internet, a high capacity color laser printer, and all the necessary equipment to print and bind books. They drive around and promote the use of the Internet and public domain resources to illustrate their value to the public.

Eldred intended to print and hand out copies of Walden for those who came to the park. A damn nice and altruistic gesture, and a good way to promote literacy, the Internet and a bit of our collective history and culture. Unfortunately, the park supervisor didn’t see it that way, since they are in the subsidized by a concession to the Thoreau Society which makes money by selling copies of Walden. Since Eldred was competing with them, they denied him a permit to hand out literature, and asked that he be removed from the park.

Given that Walden Pond is part of the Massachuesetts State Parks and Recreation district, does it seem right that a state agency is denying an individual the right distribute free, legally obtained information to promote literacy and understanding amidst the public at large?

You can, of course, get Walden via Project Gutenberg.