Disqus - Latest Comments for billenator

Re: Someone please buy AP a clue

billenator — Sun, 22 Jun 2008 16:29:25 -0000

Crosbie: Your make sense and I bet the AP is willing to bet that most people will choose #1, #3 .. #2 and #4 are too painful or expensive for most people to fight

Re: Morning coffee notes (Scripting News)

billenator — Sun, 22 Jun 2008 08:36:31 -0000

Dave:

AP's withdrawl doesn't make this crisis go away..

AP has just decided to remove themselves from the conversation. Reminds me of the ostrich hiding its head in the sand.

Did the AP just make things worse?

Re: mediabistro.com: PRNewser

billenator — Sat, 21 Jun 2008 05:29:37 -0000

No question that the AP's making a strategy move .

At AP's annual meeting they name
iCopyright Named Licensing Agent for Reuse of Associated Press Content Published Online

AP has determined that they consider to be fair-use to be exactly four words. More than that and you pay $12.50 - $100. This is pretty hypocritical considering that AP journalists help themselves routinely to much more than four words from blogs and websites in the name of "fair use".

AP takes this a step further and under the license pricing and terms of use for iCopyright they place language that raises eyebrows and limits free speech.. Pretty unusual for an entity that lives and dies by freedom of speech protection.

iCopyright License Excerpt:
Derogatory and Unlawful Uses: You shall not use the Content in any manner or context that will be in any way derogatory to the author, the publication from which the Content came, or any person connected with the creation of the Content or depicted in the Content. You agree not to use the Content in any manner or context that will be in any way derogatory to or damaging to the reputation of Publisher, its licensors, or any person connected with the creation of the Content or referenced in the Content."

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I think that any reasonable person would see a strategy in play and is very much at odds with rights they flaunt daily.

AP is large and may not be a monopoly in the strictest sense, perhaps oligopoly or cartel is a better description.

Is the AP behaving ethically and morally? Are they being a good citizen? Many say they're not.

AP's strategy and behavior raises lots of questions and concerns:

The Poynter Institute on it's blog asks: AP v. Bloggers: Hurting Journalism?

Pajama's Media Asks: Is the Associated Press Good for America?

Perhaps the question we need to ask is: "Is the AP evil ?

Re: The AP mess, day 4 (Scripting News)

billenator — Fri, 20 Jun 2008 13:33:11 -0000

No question that the AP's making a strategy move .

At AP's annual meeting they name
iCopyright Named Licensing Agent for Reuse of Associated Press Content Published Online

------
I think that any reasonable person would see a strategy in play and is very much at odds with rights they flaunt daily.

AP is large and may not be a monopoly in the strictest sense, perhaps oligopoly or cartel is a better description.

Is the AP behaving ethically and morally? Are they being a good citizen? Many say they're not.

AP's strategy and behavior raises lots of questions and concerns:

The Poynter Institute on it's blog asks: AP v. Bloggers: Hurting Journalism?

Pajama's Media Asks: Is the Associated Press Good for America?

Perhaps the question we need to ask is: "Is the AP evil ?

Re: AP vs Bloggers: The Mainstream Media Declares War on Blogs

billenator — Fri, 20 Jun 2008 08:26:15 -0000

AP gets their hand caught in the cookie jar: TalkingPoints Memo and at Raw Story and at The Poynter Institute

I am sure some googling will turn up some others, and that online media will be raking more to light in coming weeks.

Sorry AP.. no special rights for you!

Re: The AP to Demand Protection Money for ‘Fair Use’ of Its Content?

billenator — Thu, 19 Jun 2008 15:18:55 -0000

Not so fast lurxst!

The AP claimed that the Drudge Retort violating copyright and committed "'hot news' misappropriation.

So no you can't paraphrase either... because according the the AP all the news belongs to them.

Nice huh....

Re: AP pay-to-quote, day 2 (Scripting News)

billenator — Wed, 18 Jun 2008 08:19:00 -0000

Dave -- I also disagree with you.

This is exactly the type of issue that needs to "go nulcear" and here is why:

The AP wants what it has no entitlement to and in a way that is not equitable.
They are trying to limit the hard fought freedoms allowed in "Fair Use" to fit their declining revenues and business models. The EFF has a great post on this specific topic and fair use: here

This post by Cory Doctorow at boingboing sums up pretty clearly that AP says fair use is exactly four words. Anything more and you pay $12.50-$100 per use.

What makes it so hard to defend is that the AP uses "Fair Use" all the time to take more than they are giving. Many journalists have had material excerpted, used, quoted etc by AP, often times without permission or proper attribution.

You can't have it both ways. It's not fair, equitable or just. AP management and policy makers are not well meaning here. The fact that AP is a not-for-profit doesn't change my thinking. They certainly aren't a charity and they act like a cartel.

This is one of those fights that must be fought.

Re: AP objects to quoting-and-linking (Scripting News)

billenator — Tue, 17 Jun 2008 10:29:39 -0000

Dave - I would agree that this is more a question of money than it is of fair use. It is no secret that AP and old school media totally got it wrong when it came to the web. Many in paleo-media viewed the web as nothing more than a fad...

What happened, thanks in part to your role in RSS. is that old world media (this includes the AP) got left behind and entire new business models passed them by. That's too bad because in all the AP does a decent job and although antiquated we need organizations like them.

However I believe that the AP has been acting badly... They've filed lawsuits. sent outrageous DMCA and legal demands etc. From what I read on the DMCA and the actual posts in question I would argue that they fall squarely in the realm of fair use.

What this looks more and more like is that the AP considers that they are entitled to "Own the news", Not just the expression of the news but the "facts of the day" or as AP's chief strategist called it "conversation of the day" as well.

What it looks and smells like to me is that the AP is trying to strong arm and coerce bloggers, the aggregators and online news into accepting terms that no court would ever grant them. The AP is probably willing to bet that not too many people have the resources or willingness to mount a defense.

AP has some suits pending with competitors that are on shaky ground and these companies are presenting some extremely compelling motions and arguments... Take a moment to read the motions (they are available from legal libraries or through the court systems)

In the end this is all about money to the AP and like the predator that they are they'll try to hunt the weakest prey first.

It's pretty sad that Cadenhead decided to kow-tow, I think he's right. But he's also concerned that he can't mount an effective defense against the 800lb AP gorilla and there would be bad caselaw.. got to credit him with that i guess.

In the end.. it's all about the money...dontcha know.

Re: Someone please buy AP a clue

billenator — Sat, 14 Jun 2008 09:43:46 -0000

In reply to Jim Kennedy of the AP:

I think the unsaid meaning here is bloggers are free to particpate in the news conversation of the day as long as you pay the AP. It's pretty clear from recent lawsuits that the Associated Press feels entitled to own the news. The AP has enjoyed a monopoly for probably much too long I fear and is behaving like a bully.

The facts of the news are in the Public Domain the facts of the news are Publici juris and no business may own the rights to fact not even the AP.

It is also clear that the AP has made the "Strategic" decision to use the faulty and nebulous doctrine of Hot News misappropriation as web 2.0, the internet, modern communications , technology, and public perception threaten their very existence.

I think it will be very interesting to see how current and future case law will further impact and erode AP's business.