So last week the AP decided that it would start threatening to sue people who used as few as 6 words of its news stories without paying (and it sent takedown notices to the drudge report retort on stories which quoted as few as 39 words). This is legally highly dubious, to say the least.
Now the AP is trying to convince bloggers that it's reconsidering by entering into negotiations with the "Media Bloggers Association." Sounds reasonable, right? Well it would be, except that the Media Bloggers Association is actually just some dude:
Who are the Media Bloggers Association? Turns out it's mostly one guy, some right-wing attack-blogger who hangs around on the lecture circuit and ran a blog devoted to pissing on Keith Olbermann.
Some bloggers are boycotting the AP, but I think Kos has the right take on this. Quoting articles at some length is almost certainly legal (and if it isn't, it should be). Let em' sue.
Update: It seems that The New York Times misrepresented the nature of this meeting. It's specifically about the Drudge Retort (not report, as I originally wrote).
--Sam Boyd
