The Associated Press Cracks the Whip

The Associated Press, the 163-year-old news cooperative, is determined to make more money off the Internet and prosecute those who use its materials without authorization.

AP's head Tom Curley in 2003 shortly after he took
over the helm at the cooperative. (WPFC photo)

And the way to do it is called an "informational wrapper," a built-in beacon attached to all its news pieces that would flag any website using its content illegally.

I am going to quote AP's news release hoping that the beacon will not attract the content police:

The beacon is meant to be a policing device aimed at deterring Web sites from posting AP content without paying licensing fees. The AP and its member newspapers contend unlicensed use of their material is costing them tens of millions of dollars in potential ad revenue.

"This is a pivotal step in the fight to ensure that quality journalism can be funded in the digital era," Tom Curley, AP's chief executive, said in an interview. "We have stood by too long and watched other people make money off the hard work of our journalists. We have decided to draw a line in concrete."

The AP calls the project a "news registry," and it is set to debut in November, beginning first with text stories and later expanding to videos and photos. Starting next year, newspapers that own the cooperative will be able to put their material into the registry as well.

The AP hasn't determined how it will make money from its registry, but believes there will be plenty of opportunities. "If you can stop the unlicensed use, the value of the content goes up," said Jane Seagrave, the AP's senior vice president of global product development.

The word "beacon" and what it does brings back memories of a similar system Facebook used that tracked what other websites its users would visit. After the understandable outrage, Facebook turned it into just an option.

AP, however, assures us all that even though its beacon will be able to determined what's read on your computer, it "will not collect personal information" from users.

It is understandable AP wishes to protect its content. According to the cooperative, it found 3.4 million unauthorized uses in just one month. Also AP is losing a ton of money because of the current nosedive of the US newspaper industry and the advertisement recession.

What remains to be seen is whether this aggressive drive to restrict the use of its content would backfire and push Internet users to look for other sources of information and reduce crucial traffic to AP clients.

Also would this be the right move to "get more money off the Internet" when the very existence of the web is based on free linking from one site to the next?

Stay tuned and off AP content or else.