Felix Salmon, who normally is really very smart, had a line in a recent post about sharing and the rise of Tumblr that’s been stuck in my throat:

[T]he vast majority of Tumblr sites actually create little or no original content: they just republish content from other people. That’s a wonderful thing, for two reasons. Firstly, it takes people who are shy about (or just not very good at) creating their own content, and gives them a great way to express themselves online.

Pardon me, but how is republishing “expression?” In a very small way I suppose you can call it expression, but as someone who does plenty of original writing as well as pointing to other people’s work, I would contend that if republishing content is expression, then turning up the volume on “Kashmir” is being Jimmy Page.

I think we can file this under “Jaron Lanier was right.” If you want to know why, read You Are Not a Gadget. (And if you buy it, you’ll be creating your own bookstore!)