Growing Blogger Boycott over AP "Fair Use" Complaints

When writing a blog or editorial, I often lift limited quotations from my news sources to reinforce a given point.

In quoting a news item for commentary, my normal restriction is to limit my quotations to no more than four (4) paragraphs - this usually means about four sentences as most news outlets make a new paragraph for each sentence. I have felt that this limit is normally sufficient to prove any point I wish to make, or provide my reader with enough of the targeted article so that they may get the "feel" of the author's tone while keeping my lifting of quotations within the spirit of the "fair use doctrine" as provided by the courts in copyright infringment cases.

No more!

Last week AP sent a letter to the parody web site " The Drudge Retort" asking that seven articles containing quotations from A.P. stories be removed from their website. The offending quotations contained 39 to 79 words each.

It appears that The Associated Press doesn't want bloggers to use their news stories as references in their own postings.

I say, "Fine. You want it, you got it!"

I will oblige them in their fondest wish. There are a large number of news sources on the web and in the conventional media; more than enough to supply the information I require to write my blogs without using A.P. as a source, and therefore without including a reference to their news story.

Since organizations like A.P live and breathe by the readership they receive, and every quotation used by every blogger normally contains a link to the original material, to my mind they are cutting their own throats, but if that is their wish, so be it.

I will no longer be referencing any Associated Press articles in my editorials nor will I excerpt them in my blogs.

It appears that I am no alone in my reaction to A.P.'s activity. The website TechCrunch has just released the following on their website.

Here’s Our New Policy On A.P. stories: They’re Banned

Michael Arrington

The stories over the weekend were bad enough - the Associated Press, with a long history of suing over quotations from their articles, went after Drudge Retort for having the audacity to link to their stories along with short quotations via reader submissions. Drudge Retort is doing nothing different than what Digg, TechMeme, Mixx and dozens of other sites do, and frankly the fact that they are being linked to should be considered a favor.

After heavy criticism over the last few days, the A.P. is in damage control mode, says the NYTimes, and retreating from their earlier position. But from what I read, they’re just pushing their case further.

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The A.P. doesn’t get to make it’s own rules around how its content is used, if those rules are stricter than the law allows. So even thought they say they are making these new guidelines in the spirit of cooperation, it’s clear that, like the RIAA and MPAA, they are trying to claw their way to a set of property rights that don’t exist today and that they are not legally entitled to. And like the RIAA and MPAA, this is done to protect a dying business model - paid content.

So here’s our new policy on A.P. stories: they don’t exist. We don’t see them, we don’t quote them, we don’t link to them. They’re banned until they abandon this new strategy, and I encourage others to do the same until they back down from these ridiculous attempts to stop the spread of information around the Internet.

The arrogant jerks at A.P. believe they can bully those of us in the so-called pajamas media without consequences. I've got news for them, it is they who are going to feel the crunch.

The Arrogant Press has always been a Left leaning biased and quite often anti-American operation. Attacking our troops, our president, and our values with impunity. With this push on their part to oppress their primary competition, it is time for all bloggers to take the boycott pledge - it is the smart thing to do - it is the legally shrewed thing to do - it is what I am doing.

Hey A.P. you've got your wish, I hope you choke on it…have a nice slow, painful, death.

Long Live Our American Republic!!!

...Of course there is a more cynical take on AP's actions, it has occurred to me that by banning direct copy or quotation, any claimed summary of their reports can be denounced as false with the simple act of withdrawing the offending content from their web pages.

Any blogger without the documentation of a direct copy and quote then suddenly becomes vulnerable to charges of manufacturing a story with intent of harming AP...of course that is just a cynical take and no such policy decision would be in the least conceivable to such an august member of the Paleo-media...would it?

The muzzling of free speech and of the "pajamas media" will occur with a whimper, not a bang. Rights are generally removed from the people gradually, by stages, rarely are they stripped away wholesale.

BOYCOTT THE ASSOCIATED PRESS!!!

What do you think?

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