The newswire Associated Press has launched an anti-blogger stance (or anti-social-media maybe) which seems a little bit strange and to be honest a bit thick in this day and age. It's saying you can't quote its stories on your blog. Hey guess what'll happen AP... bloggers won't link to you at all and they'll link elsewhere instead. Winning policy you've dusted off eh! They even serve take-down notices to bloggers who quote content from their site.
Neville Hobson has done some research on the topic and has the following to say. His review is worth reading if you're in PR or marketing:
"In a nutshell, the AP is trying to stop a blogger posting even small snippets of content from AP news items, something that happens day in and day out across the web under fair use and fair dealing practices..."
I think this is really a step in the wrong direciton. Here's something I stumbled across if anyone wants to join the bloggers side http://tiny.cc/F0i6S
Posted by: Kelsey | June 17, 2008 at 03:08 PM
I love the fact that bloggers are driving traffic to AP's corporate clients and AP is rewarding them with legal threats.
Posted by: libhomo | June 18, 2008 at 04:07 AM
Hi Drew, great post - this is very interesting. The newspapers and news services are all scratching their collective heads at the moment trying to figure out how they can keep both readers and revenue and nobody seems to be able to come up with a definitive answer yet. However, I think I speak for most bloggers when I say this is not the answer. The common phrase 'cutting your nose off to spite your face' springs to mind.
Posted by: Chris Norton | June 18, 2008 at 11:12 AM
I'm just dying to know the financial implications (i.e. waste of money) of the AP's efforts to track everyone down and threathen each and every one of those mean bloggers who ultimately generate traffic for the AP's website.
Great post, thanks, this story will fit my degree paper like a glove. :)
Posted by: Mihnea | June 30, 2008 at 08:19 PM