"Information Wants to be Free"

[Fred Shapiro]

I would be grateful for any information as to the origins of the slogan
"Information wants to be free."  The earliest I find on Nexis is Stewart
Brand in 1984, but an extremely knowledgeable person tells me she thinks
it was around before that.

Fred Shapiro


--------------------------------------------------------------------------
Fred R. Shapiro                             Editor
Associate Librarian for Public Services     YALE DICTIONARY OF QUOTATIONS
  and Lecturer in Legal Research            Yale University Press,
Yale Law School                             forthcoming
e-mail: fred.shapiro at yale.edu               http://quotationdictionary.com
--------------------------------------------------------------------------