Last year when AP was trying to charge bloggers for using their stories, I said “fine, tit-for-tat”, and I sent the AP an invoice for using my blog’s name “Macsmind”, along with 17 posts over the last 4 years in their news aggregators.

The total according to my scale of usage came to $6,300. Other bloggers tabbed it out too. I consequently sent four more letters and a final notice. After that I turned it over to a collection company. I’ve yet to see my money.

The AP and the WSJ are now going after web aggregators, although said aggregators should go after AP and other news outlets for providing the vehicle for spreading their news. In fact every ISP, backbone, host, should get a cut as media outlets use the internet to spread their stories and in fact they do not own the internet.

Ok, it gets ridiculous, and I do understand the subject of content copyright, but AP’s and the WSJ’s position is weak. AP wouldn’t might own the content, but they do not own the method of delivery and thus cannot piggyback off of a public medium to make a buck. If were an aggregator I would simply allow the courts to decide who in fact should get paid.

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