My introduction to publishing was this: I submitted something I thought was pretty good, and the publisher throught so too, and was set to publish it. But first, I would have to write the authors (or publishers) or every quote, no matter how short, that I used in my piece, and get written permission to use it. Though still a bit of a neophyte, I had heard of fair use, and knew this was absurd. That was pretty much the end of my association with publishers, and I am pretty much allow publication of my work "as is" - if you don't like it, don't ask for it and don't publish it. In the more litigious south, Lawrence Lessig is taking a different route to a similar problem, launching a lawsuit against Google for the takedown notices issued against uses of copyright content which are very obviously fair use. I wish him luck, though I suspect the court will say a private agency like YouTube can set up whatever rules it wants, however restrictive, just like commercial publishers have always done.
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