AP objects to quoting-and-linking

Monday, June 16, 2008 by Dave Winer.

This morning the top story on both TechMeme and Memeorandum is about the AP and its opinion that quoting and linking is a violation of fair use.  

This is something I've been doing on Scripting News going back to the mid-90s.  

Examples? According to AP, everything on NewsJunk.com would be a violation. 

As many have pointed out, quoting and linking is the norm in the blogosphere.  

I have noticed that more bloggers quote the whole piece these days, and put a sentence before and after, saying "This sucks!" or "Dave is an idiot!" I think they could accomplish the same thing by pointing to the article instead of mass-copying it. For the amateur blogger this is an annoyance you have to live with. For an organization like the AP, I guess it's more of a concern. 

So why go after a mere link-and-quoter, when if you went after a mass-quoter, you'd have most people on your side? This is a mystery. 

Over the years I've worked with the AP on various RSS and blogging projects, and it's always been enjoyable, respectful and professional work. There's a lot of goodwill here. I sent them an email this morning offering help, and it was graciously received. And we're going to continue to use the AP as a source on NewsJunk.com, at least for now.