* Dear Associated Press,
Please, stop the stoopid…
Taking aim at the way news is spread across the Internet, The Associated Press said on Monday that Web sites that used the work of news organizations must obtain permission and share revenue with them, and that it would take legal action against those that did not.
A.P. executives said they were concerned about a variety of news forums around the Web, including major search engines like Google and Yahoo and aggregators like the Drudge Report that link to news articles, smaller sites that sometimes reproduce articles whole, and companies that sell packaged news feeds.
Lemme explain this to you, APers, since you seem to be so clueless.
I, or Drudge or the Google or somebody else makes linkies to AP stories and your members then get all the ad revenue (which they share with you in the form of dues) when readers click on those aforementioned linkies. That’s somehow bad?
On the right side of this here page, you will see an automated news feed for AP stories - the sort of feed you appear to hate. Well, dingbats, that feed drives readers to your subscribers’ sites. The Chicago Public Radio people have told me that this blog is one of their top referral sites. Unlike y’all, they are not the least bit moronic. They welcome the traffic and appear to love the attention. CBS2 designed a video news feed especially for this site. They’re smart, unlike you AP goofs.
I also excerpt your stories under what’s called the Fair Use Doctrine. Linkies are always included, which drives more visitors to newspaper/TV/radio sites, which then helps those sites make money. Yes, money.
Not a day goes by that some reporter doesn’t request favorable placement for a story on this site. I’m always more than happy to comply. Reporters know that getting their stories posted here means the people who matter most in Illinois politics - my readers - will see those stories. This arrangement also benefits me, of course. But that’s the beauty of it.
If you want to go after sites that reprint entire articles, well, you already have that ability and my full blessing. Posting articles in their entirety is very bad practice and should be punished. I don’t do it and I don’t allow commenters to do it, either. Maybe one or two will get through the screen on occasion, but I do my best to prevent this.
But, if you’re thinking of trying to pass a new law to gain new powers, well, you can forget about that. We’ll crush you. If you want to start suing people, then brace for a fight, or risk making your members’ truly horrific financial situation even worse as those wonderful little linkies disappear.
Seriously, how can you be so totally idiotic?
…And another thing… Yesterday, I broke the story that Gov. Quinn had signed an executive order repealing one of Rod Blagojevich’s most controversial executive orders. The AP followed up, but no credit was given and no link to this site was offered. That’s no big deal. It happens all the time. But get off your high horse about “theft.” Look in the mirror, first.
…And while I’m at it… What if we turn the tables on you, AP? What if bloggers and aggregators demand a piece of the ad revenues which we generate for your members by driving so much traffic to their sites? Think about that for a minute, jerks.