Gladwell acknowledges, "Words belong to the person that wrote them. There are few simpler ethical notions than this one," and yet "in practically every case... ideas released to the world are free." Explain what issues this conundrum raises? Does Gladwell offer or allude to a solution?
How are "the ethics of plagiarism" different in the world of intellectual property than they are in the world of academia? Is this a double-standard? Should one domain be more lenient or rigid than the other? Why?